"The Architect of the Cross"
Introduction:
I was reading through this week from Matthew chapter 21 the account of Jesus entering into Jerusalem in triumph - the event that we celebrated last week on Palm Sunday - and my attention was drawn to verse 10, where it says: "And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying ’WHO IS THIS?’. So the multitudes said, ’This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.’"
Note - "The whole city was moved". That word "moved" is a word used in other places in the New Testament to describe the shaking that takes place when there is an earthquake. The city was shaken by the entry of Jesus. All of Jerusalem said: "Who is this ?", as the multitudes with Him proclaimed His coming to the Holy City with shouts of "Hosanna to the Son of David" and "Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord". A triumphal procession.
It was Sunday - the first day of the week.
BUT by the end of that week the acclamation would turn to accusation ... arrest, trial and crucifixion. His followers fled; the Prophet Zechariah had foretold, "I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered".
They’d seen Him work miracles - they’d heard Him teach with authority - they were drawn to Him - and so, no doubt, as they celebrated His coming into Jerusalem they were quite sure that He was the awaited Messiah, and that He was coming to the capital now to lead a revolution to overthrow the Roman oppressors.
But what happened? Instead of rallying support for a revolution, instead of challenging the Romans, Jesus went straight to the Temple and challenged the Jewish leaders. NOT a good political move - NOT a good start to the revolution. The multitude was still with Him at this stage, but He clearly wasn’t doing what was expected of the Messiah.
Jesus then went outside Jerusalem to Bethany where He stayed while He taught on the Mount of Olives. He returned on Thursday to eat the Last Supper with His disciples. But all week the Jewish leaders had been scheming and lobbying the city against Him. In the middle of the night He was arrested by the mob in the Garden of Gethsemane, dragged before Annas the High Priest, then before Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. All this examining and cross-examining took place through the early hours of the morning (Jesus hadn’t slept for at least 24 hours). Then, when they felt it was a reasonable enough hour of the morning, Jesus was brought to Pontius Pilate (the Roman Governor) for his rubber stamp approval on what the Jewish leaders had determined should happen. The accusations they made before Pilate were that Jesus was plotting against Rome - treason punishable by death. Pilate was reluctant - he could smell a rat. He said: "I find no fault in this man". But finally he relented to appease the locals, and crucifixion was ordered. By late afternoon Jesus was dead.
WHO was responsible for Jesus dying on the Cross?
The Romans? Pontius Pilate? The Jewish mob? Herod? Judas Iscariot? Was it Satan himself?
Perhaps you say it was US!? All of sinful mankind - for if it weren’t for our sin He would not have needed to die. That’s right.
TRULY, there were many hands that had a part in holding the hammer which pounded the nails in Jesus’ hands.
But what I’m asking this Good Friday morning is: Who was ULTIMATELY responsible for Jesus going to the Cross? Whose idea was it? Who was the ‘ARCHITECT’ of the Cross?
TEXT: 2 Corinthians 5:19.
“GOD was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself . . .”
Who was in charge of the proceedings on that little hill called Calvary? GOD HIMSELF. It was His idea.
Look with me at these amazing facts that the Word of God declares.
1. GOD SENT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD.
John 3:16.
It all began with God. God saw our plight; that we were helplessly and hopelessly lost in sin. We were cut off from any kind of relationship with Him. SO HE TOOK RADICAL ACTION.
In fact He had foreseen the need before the world was created, the plan was launched way back then.
He sent His only Son, the Prince of Glory, Who had always been co-partner with Him - He sent His Son into the world on a dark but vital mission, behind enemy lines TO PURCHASE THE CAPTIVES OF EARTH BACK TO HIMSELF.
So, from the palaces of Heaven’s glory to an obscure stable, God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that the world through Him might be saved.
2. GOD PREPARED HIS SON FOR THE MISSION.
Isaiah 53:2a. "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground."
Like a gardener, God planted His own seed in a virgin’s womb, and watched Jesus delivered - the babe of Bethlehem. And He watched Him grow through childhood, into adolescence, into manhood - He grew up strong and holy. And all the while, God Himself was preparing Him for what He must do. He was preparing the tender plant to be cut down.
Another image that we might liken it to: God was like the Shepherd watching especially over the prized Lamb of the flock - the unblemished Lamb; the BEST, most PURE. He gives special attention to it as it grows. WHY? Because it is to be the Lamb of sacrifice. The one offered for sin.
When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, he called out, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the whole world.” The prepared Lamb.
All through life, for 33 years, God was preparing His Son for the mission.
3. GOD DREW HIS SON TO THE CROSS.
When the time was right - when the sacrifice was ready - God summoned Jesus to Jerusalem. As He and His disciples travelled there He began to speak about dying. They didn’t understand it, but Jesus knew that He was being led by God into he final, all-important, conflict.
Jesus wasn’t fooled by the reception He received as He entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey (“Hosanna to the Son of David”). He knew why He was there. By the end of the week He would be deserted by all, and He would be crucified.
The Father led Him into a garden for the final ‘briefing’ - an agonizing night of wrestling with the task before Him and summoning strength in communion with the Father. Then the Father led Him on to trial, and to the Cross.
It was the Father who led Him up the Via Dolorosa (‘the way of suffering’), carrying His own Cross. The scene reminds me of Abraham leading his son Isaac up the mountain, having laid on his back the very wood that would be used to sacrifice the boy.
GOD drew His Son to the Cross.
4. GOD PLACED HIS SON ON THE ALTAR.
If you have any doubts about Who sacrificed Jesus’ life, come back with me again to ISAIAH 53. Listen to the worlds of these verses: v4, v6, v10, v11.
As Jesus hung there, suspended between earth and heaven, God’s hands came down, and He Himself wrung the precious lifeblood of Jesus out on the ground. He had provided for Himself a sacrificial Lamb to pay the price for our sin and meet the demands of holy justice. As the blood poured out on the ground, our penalty was being paid.
And then the Father took all of the sin of the whole world; all the guilt and vile sin accrued in all of man’s rotten history AND HE LAID IT SQUARELY ON THE SHOULDERS OF JESUS. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that “He made Him Who knew no sin TO BE SIN FOR US, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
He bore it all. All our shame, all our condemnation, all our grief - it was put on Him. And in that moment the Father turned away. (Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” - that may well be the cry of every soul in hell. Jesus cried it once for all who would put their trust in Him.)
And then finally, Jesus cried out once more: “It is finished”. The mission was accomplished. WHAT A SAVIOUR!
Now let me ask:
WHY DID GOD DO ALL OF THIS? WHY DID JESUS GIVE HIMSELF?
For LOVE. “God so loved the world . . .” Such a love that makes all other loves pale into insignificance beside it!
WHAT MUST OUR RESPONSE BE?
This morning, the Cross makes a two-fold call:
a) TO THOSE WHO HAVE NEVER REPENTED OF SIN AND PUT THEIR TRUST IN CHRIST TO BE THEIR SAVIOUR.
- You MUST come to the Cross.
- If you do NOT receive Christ as Saviour, then you must stand before God alone. The price Jesus paid does not count for you. The penalty still has to be paid, and you must pay it.
- BUT today, there IS opportunity. The Saviour, Jesus, is standing with arms wide open receiving any and all who will come.
b) TO THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED CHRIST.
- We are called to live constantly beneath the shadow of the Cross, and never forget that we are not our own - WE ARE BOUGHT WITH AN INCREDIBLE PRICE.
[Invitation]
