Road to Easter Series3

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

Jesus was in such agony of sold that He sweated drops of blood.

Some have thought this meant that the sweat was so profuse that every drop was as large as a drop of blood, not that the sweat was blood itself.

But there have been cases in which people in a debilitated state of body, or through horror of soul, have had their sweat tinged with blood.

Now, keep in mind that Jesus was all man and all God.

As a man, He knew what awaited Him in Pilate’s court, from the vicious smiter’s whip, the cruel fists of the Roman guards, and on the cross—the worst instrument of torture known to ancient man.

Several years ago, Phil Donahue—the liberal television talk-show host— listed the various reasons why he had become disillusioned with Christianity. Among them was: “How could an all-knowing, all-loving God allow his Son to be murdered on a cross to redeem my sins?”

Why did God’s Son have to die like that?

What exactly did happen on the cross?

First, let’s look at some facts about God:

Listen carefully to Romans 3:25:

“God presented Christ as a SACRIFICE OF ATONEMENT, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.”

The phrase “sacrifice of atonement” translates a Greek word that means “PROPITIATION.”

Propitiation is not understood by very many people. Here’s a simple definition:

To turn away anger by the offering of a gift.

Let’s illustrate: If you’re married, you know, guys, that one of the ways to turn away your wife’s anger is to offer a dozen roses, or some other gift that you believe will appease her.

When you do that, you are offering a propitiation, turning away her anger by the offering of a gift.

Now keeping that in mind, the Bible clearly teaches that God is not just a God of love, but is also a God of holiness.

Because He is holy, he must judge sin and His anger must be propitiated.

If sin had no consequences, then we do not live in a moral universe.

We understand this easily on an earthly level:

Suppose a man is found guilty of embezzling six million dollars from his employer. And imagine that, just before sentencing, he stands before the judge, confesses his crime, begs for mercy, and promises never to embezzle money again.

How would you react if the judge accepted his apology and released him with no punishment?

Taking it a step further, suppose the man had been convicted of rape or murder and then was set free with no punishment simply because he apologized.

It wouldn’t fly!

Why? Because we know that wrong has consequences, and that when wrong is done to someone else there should be justice meted out on their behalf.

This is why the Bible informs us that right now, “God's anger is (being) revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known.19 God punishes them, because what can be known about God is plain to them, for God himself made it plain...”—1:18

The Psalmist wrote: “God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”—Ps.7:11

So God’s wrath is being poured out in judgment against the sin and wickedness of people who refuse to turn to Him.

And this is why ultimate judgment of the entire Christ-rejecting world will soon come!

In a nutshell:

God’s holy character demands that sin be punished with judgment.

Back to the fall: Without propitiation—a gift that appeased his wrath—the hope of mankind ever avoiding judgment and re-entering relationship with Him was impossible.

Now let’s look at some facts about mankind:

Our problem was that nothing we could do in our own strength or with our own ingenuity could successfully appease God’s wrath.

Isaiah perfectly describes our dilemma: “All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through.”—Is. 64:6

“All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us going his own way.”—Is 53:6

Paul told the truth about human nature: “There is no one who is righteous, no one who is wise or who worships God. All have turned away from God; they have all gone wrong; no one does what is right, not even one.”—Ro. 3:10-12

So after the fall, this was man’s problem—how to get rid of our sin and come back into relationship with God.

So God had to devise a plan whereby He would remain holy and just, and still provide a way of forgiveness for guilty sinners.

How could God love sinners and at the same time overlook their sin?

Somewhere, somehow, there had to be a place where GRACE AND WRATH could meet.

That place was the cross of Christ.

What happened on the cross? First:

Jesus bore the wrath for our sins.

At the cross, God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ.

On the cross, God caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.

Peter tells us Christ bore my sins and your sins in His body on the cross.

Everything that deserved the wrath of God; every disgusting sin, every trespass and every iniquity you and I ever committed in rebellion against God, was placed on the shoulders of Christ at the cross.

The real agony of the cross was the fact that when Christ bore my sin and your sin in His body on the tree, His Father turned away from him for the first time in all of eternity.

This was the “cup” He so dreaded when in the Garden He prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me.”

Isaiah writes,

“But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne… Because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord laid on Him the punishment all of us deserved.

On the cross, the wrath of God for sin fell on Jesus.

This was the only “gift” that could act as propitiation to appease and satisfy God’s wrath.

Second, on the cross:

He stood in our shoes so we could stand in His!

This is the miracle of the cross!

Not only did Jesus stand in our shoes by taking the wrath of God for us, He also totally restored to us our lost righteousness before God.

“Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God.”—2 Cor. 5:21

As the great hymn says:

There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins.

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their guilty stain.

And finally, at the cross:

Jesus took your hand and placed it in God’s hand

“God…has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…”—2 Cor. 5:18

RECONCILIATION is a beautiful word for a marriage scarred by bitterness and distance and hurt;

For friends who have fallen out;

For parents and children whose relationship is now broken, hostile, and painful.

RECONCILIATION is the reuniting of those who have been estranged so that the state of hostility is gone, and ill will removed. Now there is peace.

AT THE CROSS:

He bore God’s wrath for us.

He stood in our shoes so we could stand in His.

He placed our hand in God’s hand by reconciliation.

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