The Cross of Christ
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Good Friday is a strange name for a day that remembers the most brutal execution in human history.
It was a day of betrayal.
A day of injustice.
A day of violence.
A day when the Son of God was nailed to a Roman cross.
And yet Christians call it Good Friday.
Why?
Because what happened on that cross was not merely a tragedy.
It was the greatest act of redemption the world has ever seen.
The cross of Jesus Christ reveals three things to us.
First, it reveals the mechanism of our redemption.
Second, it reveals the manner of our redemption.
Third, it reveals the motive of our redemption.
The Mechanism: Crucifixion
The Mechanism: Crucifixion
When we speak about the cross, we must remember that crucifixion was one of the most cruel and humiliating forms of execution ever invented.
It was designed by the Romans to do three things.
To cause maximum pain.
To cause maximum humiliation.
And to prolong death for as long as possible.
The victim was first scourged.
The whip used in Roman scourging was designed to tear flesh.
It contained pieces of bone and metal that ripped into the body.
After the scourging, the victim was forced to carry his cross to the place of execution.
Then nails were driven through the hands and feet.
The victim was lifted up and left hanging between heaven and earth.
And death did not come quickly.
Crucifixion killed by suffocation.
Every breath required pushing up against the nails in the hands and feet.
Slowly the body weakened until the victim could no longer lift himself to breathe.
And then death came.
The Gospel tells us this is exactly what happened to Jesus.
24 And they crucified Him...
The Son of God was crucified.
But the physical suffering of the cross was not the deepest suffering Jesus experienced.
The deepest suffering was spiritual.
Isaiah tells us:
6 All of us, like sheep, have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all To fall on Him.
On that cross, Christ bore sin.
Not His sin.
Our sin.
Scripture says:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And on that cross the wages were paid.
The cross shows us something terrifying.
It shows us what sin deserves.
2. The Manner: Sacrifice
2. The Manner: Sacrifice
But the death of Jesus was not merely an execution.
It was a sacrifice.
Jesus was not simply killed.
He gave Himself.
18 No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back. This commandment I received from My Father.”
The cross was not an accident.
It was not a tragedy.
It was the plan of God.
From the beginning of Scripture, God had been preparing the world to understand sacrifice.
In the Old Testament, animals were offered as sacrifices for sin.
Blood was shed again and again.
Because Scripture tells us:
22 And almost all things are cleansed with blood, according to the Law, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Every lamb that died pointed forward to one greater sacrifice.
And when Jesus came, John the Baptist announced Him with these words:
29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
On the cross Jesus became the final sacrifice.
Scripture says:
For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
The sacrifices of the Old Testament were shadows.
The cross was the reality.
Jesus did not die as a victim of history.
He died as the Lamb of God.
3. The Motive: Love
3. The Motive: Love
But there is one final question.
Why would God do this?
Why would the Son of God endure such suffering?
The answer is found in one of the most famous verses in the Bible.
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
The cross was motivated by love.
But this was not sentimental love.
It was sacrificial love.
Scripture says:
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Notice what that verse says.
Christ did not die for good people.
He died for sinners.
He died for rebels.
He died for those who had rejected Him.
And yet He loved them enough to take their punishment upon Himself.
The cross is where two great truths meet.
The justice of God.
And the love of God.
God’s justice demanded that sin be punished.
God’s love provided the substitute.
As the apostle John writes:
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As Jesus hung upon that cross, after hours of suffering, He cried out with a loud voice:
30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
The work of redemption was complete.
The price of sin was paid.
The sacrifice had been offered.
And then the Son of God bowed His head and died.
The world grew dark.
The earth trembled.
And the body of Jesus was placed in a tomb.
But the story does not end there.
Because three days later, the tomb would be empty.
