Passion Week 5: It Is Finished
“No one ever died as Jesus died because He was life itself. No one was ever punished for sin as He was- the sinless one. No one ever plunged down into the vacuum of evil as did Jesus of Nazareth. Who will ever know the excruciating pain behind His words ‘Father, why have you abandoned me?’”—Brennan Manning
THE OFFERING OF THE CROSS
Today, On Good Friday, we behold the Man on the tree. As we stare, the question arises over who was responsible for this cataclysmic injustice? Was it Judas who handed Him over? Was it the chief priests and elders, along with the Jewish people? Was it Pontius Pilate and the Roman authorities? Was it you and I as the crowning sin of the human race? The sentence over all of these perpetrators is overwhelmingly “GUILTY!” But the greatest truth is that the Son laid down His life, no one took it from Him, and the Father crushed Him. Oh, do not be mistaken – although wicked and evil men participated out of their own free will, the Father gave His Son and the Son gave Himself up for us all.
No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." - John 10:18
Jesus, the God-man, born outside of the curse of Adam, lived a life in absolute agreement with the Father and then allowed men fueled by demonic rage, execute Him as a criminal in order to pay the price of our broken covenant by death on a cross. The Second Adam, Jesus Christ, opened up His wounded side and took us into Himself on the cross. He not only died for us, but died with us and as us. What you formerly were has died in Christ on a tree. Now you are in Him and He is in you forever.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. – Galatians 2:20
THE POWER OF THE CROSS
At the foot of the cross, we meet the King who is the servant of all. On the cross, we see the Father, who was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself (2 Cor 5:19). There Jesus, through the eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14) offered Himself without blemish to God. All three Persons of the Trinity present on the Hill outside of Jerusalem that Friday, accomplishing the work that would redeem, reconcile, and recreate the cosmos. More happened in that six hours on Golgotha then we will be able to comprehend for billions of years.
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
THE CALL OF THE CROSS
And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? - Luke 9:23-25
And now, this same Jesus, calls us to follow in the way after Him. This call is to all. It takes no special gifting, no unique anointing, only a heart that is willing. No one can find another path around the cross if they are to receive all that God has promised. The cross frees us from fear and narcissism. The first and primary calling of every believer is full surrender and obedience to Jesus. We are conformed to His very image through embracing the very same path of the cross orchestrated for us by God Himself. We follow that example by obedience to the Lordship of Jesus and by embracing the same path that He walked; the cross before glory.
Jesus’ cross paid the full penalty of sin, bore in its absolute form the wrath of God, and triumphed over the record of debt that stood against us. His surrender to the Father meant salvation for the world. Our cross declares our allegiance to Him above all else. The carrying of our cross conforms us to his image by that same kind of obedience. His cross makes sense of ours and ours makes much of His.
Jesus calls us to this daily surrender. To come every day to the garden where He knelt and prayed, “not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42) Wherever your will intersects with His will, there is a cross. This surrendered heart is a sweet fragrance to God and a place for His presence to rest on our souls. A surrendered heart in love with God is not something you can get in a prayer line or at a conference. No pastor can impart it to you. It is the result of the beauty and love of Jesus breaking down a thousand walls and conquering a thousand armies of resistance in our hearts as we gaze on Him crucified.
The more we look, the more we love. The more we love, the more we obey. The more we obey, the more the world sees the glory of our Beloved.
