1.03.2008

The Cross of Christ

Psalm 75:8 “For a cup is in he hand of the Lord, and the wine foams; It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; Surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.”

Matthew 26:39 “And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

2 Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Isaiah 53:10 “And it pleased the Lord to crush Him...”

Matthew 27:46 “About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?””

The cross is misunderstood by the vast majority of the world, Christendom included. What really happened there? The Christian with a biblical understanding of the cross gets disturbed when they hear someone say that Jesus was weak in the Garden of Gethsemane, or that His only failure was when He said “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me?” The fact is that Christ was forsaken on the cross, and what He agreed to in that garden is unfathomable to the human mind. When Jesus prayed “…let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will” that was quite possibly His strongest moment. Do you realize that He agreed to drink the cup of God’s wrath, and drink down its dregs, or in other words to drink it down to the last drop? To think that He agreed to do that, and then along comes some ignorant Christian calling that a moment of weakness, that is foolishness. Moreover these same Christians (if they are indeed Christians) will view Jesus’ words “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me” as a moment of weakness. Do we not realize that the very grace of God is on us every single moment of our lives, whether we are a believer or not? Yet at that moment Jesus has not a gram of grace upon Him. Think of how cranky you get when you have not eaten, is not food a provision of God’s grace, or when you have not slept, is not sleep a product of grace, or how do you feel when you cannot breath, but even the air you breath is from God’s grace. The list goes on, any bit of comfort you may have, even in your most painful moments is only by God’s grace. Jesus was completely forsaken of God, pain unbearable, darkness unfathomable, loneliness unthinkable, fear unimaginable. This was not a moment of weakness, it was a moment of truth. Remember "the Lord was pleased to crush Him." Jesus was forsaken, and God the Father was pouring out His wrath upon His only begotten Son. Realize that Jesus was made to be sin, and God poured out all of His anger against sin upon His own Son. That is what happened on the cross, not just a painful torture ritual.

We will leave this right here. Those five passages in that order go a long way in beginning to explain what really happened on the cross.

This and the next post are more intended for my benefit as I try to articulate the gospel in a way that makes sense to me and is concise, and is easily comprehendible to junior high and high school youth. It always helps my faith when I attempt to articulate it. I hope to post what really occurred at the resurrection next.

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