The second aspect of the gospel is that Jesus died on the cross. Since Good Friday is but a week away, I feel that this is a timely post. I hope you find it to be timely as well. In my last post I posed a few questions: Why did Jesus die on the cross? Was it necessary for him to die? If so, why? In this post I propose to answer these questions in a way that reflects the truth and glory of what it meant for Jesus to die on the cross and maybe challenge my readers to reflect personally on the last question: What does it mean to take up your cross and bear it?
So, why did Jesus die on the cross? Some people would say that he died because men were jealous of him; others might point to the cruelty of the Roman occupation; some might even say it was because he was so revolutionary in his way of thinking that the world could not tolerate his message. While all of these explanations might point to some human reasoning to explain how men can be cruel, it does not really answer why Jesus chose to die on the cross. Notice I used the word chose. We find that he chose the cross in Philippians 2:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Verse 6 references the fact that I alluded to in the previous post that Jesus has always been. In verse 7 we find where Jesus took “the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” In verse 8, Jesus humbled himself was obedient to the father to suffer death on the cross. Jesus also told his disciples how he would die many times. (Mark 8:31; Matthew 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19, 26:2; Luke 9:22; John 12:32) If these aren’t enough because they were written after Jesus’ death how about this one from the book of Isaiah, the fifty-third chapter:
1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Remember this prophecy was written over 700 years before Jesus died on the cross. We also see in this prophecy the answer to my question of why Jesus died on the cross: “it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin….” Jesus was an offering for sin. This chapter also refers to our iniquities (sins) being laid upon him. When you compare this prophecy with the accounts of Jesus’ final day you have to stop and wonder at its accuracy. Jesus died for our sins.
A lot of people dismiss the account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden as mere myth, but that account contains the first prediction of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross. In Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Here God tells the serpent (Satan) that he would “bruise” the heel of the woman’s seed (Jesus, who was born of the Virgin Mary). As I referenced in the previous post, if Jesus had not been born of a virgin, but naturally, then he would be man’s or Adam’s seed not the woman’s or Mary’s seed.
Jesus’ death was predicted even from the Fall of man (when man first started sinning in the Garden of Eden). Satan “bruised” Jesus’ heel when he inspired Judas to betray Jesus, High Priest Caiaphas to try Jesus in court, Pilate to wash his hands, and the priests to ask for the pardon of Barabbas instead of Jesus leading, ultimately, to Jesus being crucified. I say “bruised” because Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, but that is for the next blog post.
So Jesus died for our sins so we could be reconciled to God (I Peter 3:18a: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God). God is holy; and a holy God cannot tolerate our sin. Our sentence for sin is death (Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death;). Not just the natural death that we suffer, but damnation in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire).
The night before his passion Jesus did not ask if it was possible for the cup to pass from him (Matthew 26:39) because he feared the suffering at man’s hands but because he knew to pay our penalty for sin meant to suffer under the cup of God’s wrath for our sin. We see the indications of God’s wrath being poured out upon Jesus in the accounts of the crucifixion: darkness over all the land for 3 hours (Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, Luke 23:44), Jesus crying out to God: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34), the rending of the veil and an earthquake (Matthew 27:51). All these elements indicate that a great work was taking place on the cross. Jesus was suffering for sins that were not his own. He was suffering for our sins. He suffered the agony of estrangement from God and felt the wrath against our sin that we deserve.
Jesus is referred to in the Bible as the Lamb of God, because he was the true sacrifice that was necessary to reconcile us to God. The sacrifices in the temple were just a picture of the true sacrifice that took place on the cross. This is what is called the Doctrine of Atonement. Our sin debt to God demands a payment or atonement and Jesus’ self-sacrifice on the cross was the only payment that could reconcile us to God (Hebrews 10:1-18).
So, does a person need to understand this doctrine of atonement to be saved? I don’t think it is necessary to understand it beyond this: We are sinners; God is holy; we are separated from God by our sins; Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we can be reconciled with God.
The cross is precious to a Christian because the cross represents the great work that Jesus did to save us from our sins. Jesus actually told his disciples if any would follow him that they should deny themselves and take up the cross daily. The cross is a reminder that Jesus gave himself for us, not so that we could be what we desired but so that we could follow after him and do his will. What is his holy will? I will delve into this more in the next post on the resurrection.
I leave you with these questions for today: How and why do we deny ourselves? How do we know that we (or others) are saved? What does it mean to be saved? What is the significance of the resurrection?
I also ask for your prayers for me and for our world. I hope that you get some spiritual satisfaction from reading these posts. If you feel that these posts might be of some benefit to others, please share a link to my blog. God bless.