Do you ever think about what Jesus had to endure while making His final journey to Calvary?
- Imagine the agony He felt as His seamless robe rubbed against the fresh wounds.
- Feel the sharp points of the crown of thorns that pressed into His skull.
- Run your fingers down His temples, tracing the drops of blood that fell.
- Try to stand tall as the weight of the cross buckles His knees.
- Hear the roar of the crowd beckoning Him to His death.
- Subject yourself to the force of destiny that pushed Him to carry on.
Question: What was all of this for?
Answer: So that the weight of our impurity could be forever taken away.
As Christ walked that final journey, He held the weight of our sins. As He was nailed to the Cross, He thought about each one of us. As He hung against His own weight, He was abandoned by the only person who could save Him: His Father.
We were important enough to the Son of Man, that He would lay down His life for us.
John 15:13 -- Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 10:11 -- I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.
Jesus is not only the Good Shepherd; He is also the Lamb of God, and many people don't understand that concept.
How can Christ be both the shepherd, as well as the lamb? What does that mean?
John 1:29 -- The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
Jesus was born into a world of sin, as perfection.
He came as the flesh of God.
His mission was to bring us, the lost sheep, into His presence.
He didn't come as a dictator.
Or a conqueror.
But as innocence.
He was spotless.
He was pure.
He was immune to sin.
In the Old Testament, people brought lambs to the altar, as a way to atone for their sins. They brought forth the purest lamb, as way to seek forgiveness from God. But when Jesus entered the world, He became that Perfect Sacrifice. He had become that perfect lamb that would atone for the sins of humanity. He would break the barrier that existed between God and man.
As He climbed the hill to Calvary, He was like a lamb being brought to the altar; the difference was that His altar was the Cross. As He hung on that Cross, every past, present and future sin of humanity was placed on Him.
And He was punished. Harshly.
He was subject to the judgment that one day you and I should have endured.
Christ
became sin.
A man that was more pure than the whitest white, had become stained by the impurity that we had become. He was drenched in His own blood, but the sin that consumed Him was even greater. The impurity that He took from us, so that we could become right with God, weighed so heavily on Him, that God could not look upon Him; He can't look upon sin. So in the hours from 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock, God's own court was in session and He was forced to forsake His Son.
This is hard to imagine, but this may make the picture more clear:
A perfect God created man, in His own image. He was proud of what He had created, but that man sinned, and caused the rest of humanity to be subject to judgment. God loved His people so much, that He sent His only Son into the world, to become the perfect sacrifice. With the shedding of His Son's blood, the barrier that had been up since the Fall of Man was now broken. But before that veil could be torn, God had to judge the sins of the world. Because impurity had been placed on His own Son, God was forced to pour out His wrath on Jesus. The one man who had done no wrong, the one man who had never sinned, was now being forced to endure the judgment that should have been poured out on you and me. For three hours, before that veil was torn (the moment that Jesus released His spirit), God had forsaken His Son, so that after judgment was complete, we could be reconciled to God.
The next time that you think that you have it rough, or feel like you can't go on, think about Christ. He took all the pain and agony that we would suffer, so that we wouldn't have to. All of it was placed on Him when He held the weight of impurity and climbed that hill.
His life was a testament of LOVE; don't let His sacrifice be for nothing.
Lay your burdens at the feet of Jesus, because they have already been taken care of.
The price has been paid.
The veil has been torn.
We are no longer separated.
We have been forgiven.
Blessings,
A.
