The scene:   A crucifixion.    The Place:  Golgotha.

The Cross—a symbol of pain, suffering and death. 
A horrible death.  As the victims hung there attempting
to breathe, the pain was horrific to push up with their
 feet to fill their lungs with a little air.  To hasten
 their deaths, soldiers were ordered
to break the legs of the suffering men, not to alleviate
their suffering, but to hasten their deaths before the
Sabbath set in. 
 With broken legs, it would have been impossible to push
upward to gain a little more air to breathe. 
Suffocation soon followed and death ensued.

They came too late to “hasten the death” of Jesus.  Man has
 been trying since the beginning of time to program God to
meet his schedule, but it doesn’t change God’s timetable one millisecond.  Jesus had achieved His mission and already
declared it “finished” when the soldiers came to His cross. 
 “It is finished” did not refer to his earthly life but to the
mission He had come to earth to fulfill.  Our salvation
had been procured and secured.  The debt was paid that
we owed but could not pay.  The penalty of the broken
covenant had been satisfied; and we were justified,
 innocent and free from the debt that sin
had charged us with. 

 

Broken hearts only saw the battered dead body of their
Son, Friend and Teacher.  Some had left everything and
followed Him with great expectations.  Their visions of the
 long-awaited Jewish savior who would deliver them from
the heavy hand of the oppressive Roman government died
on the cross.  They must have felt that the three years they
had devoted to being Jesus’ disciples were all for naught.
  They were fearful and went into hiding lest they too
 have the same fate.  What now?  Back to fishing? 
Back to collecting taxes?  What was left but back to
everyday life, with dreams and spirits crushed? 

 

These sad friends and followers of Jesus could not know
what was happening in the Spirit world!  What appeared to
be doom and gloom was in fact bringing light and life as Jesus
finished His work and took the keys of death, hell and the
grave from the defeated being who had stolen them, Satan. 
The gleeful celebration in hell was interrupted by the invasion
of the Savior as He freed the death cells and brought eternal
hope of life.  Victory had been declared even as the hordes
of hell thought they had put out His Light!  Now blinded by
that Light, their doom was pronounced as the King of kings
 and Lord of lords triumphed over all the power of
evil and the sting of death! 

 

The New Covenant had been ratified at Calvary.  Never
 again would the old covenant suffice as it killed an innocent
 animal vicariously for the sins of man.  On the cross, an
innocent Lamb had been slain, His blood sprinkled on Heaven’s
altar for the sins of the world.  The vicarious sacrifice of God’s innocent Lamb was totally satisfactory to atone for the sins
of mankind.  The blood will never evaporate nor loose its
potency; its atoning power ever present.

 

Jesus could have just gone on back to Heaven after
completing His mission on earth and sat down at the right
 hand of the Father.  He had foretold His death and
resurrection while still living as man.  He had taught
His followers what to expect.  But He didn’t leave them
until He had given them the impetus to carry out His
commission.  After the resurrection, He came to them
and gave them irrefutable proof of what He had told them
would take place.  He showed Himself in His glorious
resurrected body to the women who came to the tomb
to mourn His death, to His disciples huddled in fear
and others who would carry the New Covenant message
to the world.  He gave them first-hand revelation that He
 was alive and would be going back to His Father as
their intercessor, and the person of Holy Ghost would
 soon be descending in their midst to enable them to
carry His New Covenant message to the world.

 

Do you know about the atoning sacrifice Jesus Christ made
 for you?  Are you aware of the incomprehensible love that
He had to allow the cruelty of the cross to take His life--
all for you?  He could have stopped it by calling rescuing
angels who could have brought instant death or endless torture
 to His killers.  Can you imagine the terrible suffering He
endured in His body—for you?  Can you even begin to
fathom the horrible black abyss Jesus entered as God
 withdrew from the Suffering Son’s presence as He paid
the price you incurred for your sin?  Does that bring a
catch to your throat, a sharp pain to your heart, a
godly sorrow for your sin?  That’s good!  It should! 

 

Sorrow for sin is a good symptom!  It means you are ready
to accept what Jesus did for you on the cross.  It means
 you are ready to accept the empty tomb as proof that He
 lives and gives life to you that will never end!  It means you
are ready to come into the New Covenant that Jesus has cut
 in your behalf.  Now you can be free from the dominion of
 sin, a new creation filled with the life of Christ and ready
for His return to take you back to the wondrous place
He has prepared for you!

 

“He is not here, for He is risen, as He said, Come, see
the place where the Lord lay.”

(Matthew 28:6)

(For more on the New Covenant,

please see Bible Studies – “The New Covenant Ratified.”)

 

Delores Adams
Copyrighted. All rights reserved.
March 8, 2004


 

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