"What does Jesus’ death have to do
with working through past sin? How can a
gruesome crucifixion that happened two thousand years ago help when your past
comes knocking today?
The answer is that the Cross is God’s
plan for freeing you from the guilt and punishment of your past sin. At the Cross we see both the depths of our
depravity and the heights of God’s amazing love for us. We witness both the terrifying intensity of
God’s just wrath for sin and His unspeakable mercy and love for sinners.
Why the Cross?
Because sinners have no other hope.
Why the Cross?
Because it is the unassailable proof
that we can be forgiven.
Let’s gaze on it together. As we draw close, don’t assume that you
already know or understand what happened there. Come to the Cross as if for the first time. In the book When God Weeps Steven
Estes and Joni Eareckson Tada give the following account of Christ’s
death. As you read, refuse to let the
scene be familiar. Let its reality shock
you and break your heart.
‘The face that Moses had begged to see – was forbidden to see –
was slapped bloody…Exodus 33:19-20.
The thorns that God had sent to curse the earth’s rebellion now twisted
around his own brow…
“On your back with you!” One raises a mallet to sink in the
spike. But the soldier’s heart must
continue pumping as he readies the prisoner’s wrist. Someone must sustain the soldier’s life
minute by minute, for no man has this power on his own. Who supplies breath to his lungs? Who gives energy to his cells? Who holds his molecules together? Only by the Son do “all things hold
together”…Colossians 1:17.
The victim wills that the soldier live on – he grants the warriors
continued existence. The man swings.
As the man swings, the Son
recalls how he and the Father first designed the medial nerve of the human
forearm – the sensations it would be capable of. The design proves flawless – the nerves
perform exquisitely. “Up you go!” They lift the cross. God is on display in his underwear and can
scarcely breathe.
But these pains are a mere
warm-up to his other and growing dread.
He begins to feel a foreign sensation.
Somewhere during this day an unearthly foul odor began to waft, not around
his nose, but his heart. He feels
dirty. Human wickedness starts to crawl
upon his spotless being – the living excrement from our souls. The apple of his Father’s eye turns brown
with rot.
His Father! He must face
his Father like this!
From heaven the Father now rouses himself like a lion disturbed,
shakes his mane, and roars against the shriveling remnant of a man hanging on a
cross. Never has the Son seen the Father
look at him so, never felt even the least of his hot breath. But the roar shakes the unseen world and
darkens the visible sky. The Son does
not recognize those eyes.
“Son of Man! Why have you
behaved so? You have cheated, lusted,
stolen, gossiped – murdered, envied, hated, lied. You have cursed, robbed, overspent, overeaten
– fornicated, disobeyed, embezzled and blasphemed. Oh, the duties you have shirked, the children
you have abandoned! Who has ever so
ignored the poor, so played the coward, so belittled my name? Have you ever held your razor tongue? What a self-righteous, pitiful drunk – you,
who molested young boys, peddle killer drugs, travel in cliques, and mock your
parents. Who gave you the boldness to
rig elections, foment revolutions, torture animals, and worship demons? Does the list never end!?! Splitting families, raping virgins, acting
smugly, playing the pimp – buying politicians, practicing exhortation, filming
pornography, accepting bribes. You have
burned down buildings, perfected terrorist tactics, founded false religions,
traded in slaves – relishing each morsel and bragging about it all. I hate, loathe these things in you! Disgust for everything about you consumes
me! Can you not feel my wrath?”
Of course, the Son is innocent.
He is blamelessness itself. The
Father knows this. But the divine pair
have an agreement, and the unthinkable must now take place. Jesus will be treated as if personally
responsible for every sin ever committed.
The Father watches his heart’s treasure, the mirror-image of
Himself, sinks drowning into raw, liquid sin.
Jehovah’s stored rage against human kind from every century explodes in
a single direction.
“Father! Father! Why have you forsaken me?”
But heaven stops its ears.
The Son stares up at the one who cannot, who will not, reach down or
reply.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
Don’t move too quickly from this
scene.
Keep gazing. The Rescue accomplished here was for
you.
John Stott writes, “Before we can begin to see the cross as
something done for
us (leading us to faith and worship) we have to see it as something done by us, (leading us to repentance)…As we face
the cross then, we can say to ourselves both,
‘I did it; my sins sent Him there’
and ‘He did it; His love took Him there.’
Did you see your own offenses on the
list of sins that necessitated the cross?
If not, name them yourself. Name
your darkest sin. Now reflect on the
fact that Christ bore the punishment for that
sin. He took the punishment you
deserved. Do you feel His passionate and
specific love for you? He died for you. He was condemned and
cursed so that you could go free - He was forsaken by God so that you would never be forsaken (Hebrews 13:5).
That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross has to do with our past sin right now.”
That’s what Jesus’ death on the cross has to do with our past sin right now.”
Boy Meets Girl, by Joshua Harris
