While a weeping God is surprising, a dying God is unthinkable – especially one who would intentionally sacrifice himself to save undeserving sinners. No other religion in the history of mankind has proposed such a preposterous notion.
THE MYSTERY OF THE CROSS
Why couldn’t God just forgive us without the need for punishment? Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? After all, when we forgive someone, we don’t insist on some kind of cruel retribution, do we? If someone does something very bad to me and then subsequently asks for forgiveness, I don’t respond by saying, “I will forgive you, but in order to do that, I’m going to have to kill my dog.” Or worse, “I’m going to have to whip my son.” Or unimaginably worse, “I’m going to have to kill my son.”
I’m not trying to be flippant or irreverent here, but I want you to see how unusual this is. How extreme it is. How shocking it is.
So, let me ask the question again. Why couldn’t God just forgive us, without the need for any sacrifice? We may never fully understand the answer – at least not on this side of eternity. But there are some truths that will take us part of the way to an understanding of this mysterious spiritual transaction.
The Bible repeatedly states that there can be no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood (Leviticus 17:11 and Hebrews 9:22). In fact, the whole of the book of Hebrews, and particularly chapter nine, expounds this mysterious truth. God is apparently not free to wave away our sins cheaply. There are serious consequences that must be faced and paid for. In a sense, this is exactly how our human judicial system works. Any judge who lets serious criminals walk free out of the goodness of his heart will soon find himself on the unemployment line. In fact, there is occasional outrage when a judge confers too lenient a sentence for a serious crime. As a society, we recognise that there needs to be appropriate consequences for those who break the law. We demand it. That is how justice works.
God apparently operates within a similar spiritual judicial system, although, in his case, it is not a system that has been imposed upon him from some outside source, but one which he, himself, has set in place. Sin must be paid for. Furthermore, this system of spiritual judicial consequences is not some arbitrary system of retribution that God has cooked up out of spite. There is an inextricable link between sin and its inevitable consequence, death:
“For the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
This simple little statement is extremely important for our understanding of the necessity of the cross. This pronouncement of the ultimate consequence of sin – death (both physical and spiritual) – is not describing some kind of capricious over-reaction on God’s part, such that we might complain, “That seems a little too harsh, doesn’t it?”. No. We must understand this pronouncement in Romans 6:23 to be a declaration of the inextricable and inescapable consequence of sin. Sin actually kills the soul:
“The soul that sins shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:20)
In the same way that a fish which leaps out of water onto dry land will surely die, so too will the soul that turns its back on God. It is inevitable. Just as the fish is specifically designed to live in water, our souls are created to live within the life-giving dimension of a relationship with God, and as soon as we break that relationship through our sin, we begin to die:
“You were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).
At this point, someone might ask, “Yes, but how does the sacrifice of Christ on the cross reverse or undo this process of spiritual death? How does the death of one man – albeit the perfect, eternal Son of God – atone for the sins of the whole world and bring those who are dead back to life?” I don’t know. No one really does. Not even the greatest theologian in all the world has the answer. This is the heart of the mystery of the cross. There is a profound spiritual transaction that occurs as Christ dies on the cross that we cannot truly fathom. Somehow, in the death of his perfect eternal Son, God was able to fully satisfy the spiritual judicial penalty of sin and undo its inevitable consequences. But it was, by no means an easy or a simple thing to do.
This brings us to the agony of the cross.
THE AGONY OF THE CROSS
The extent of the punishment that Christ endured on the cross cannot be underestimated. We will never fully understand the depth of his suffering – spiritual and physical – but there are glimpses of it in the descriptions of that terrible event, provided for us by the Gospel writers. Matthew, Mark and Luke record Jesus’ terror on the eve of his impending crucifixion, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking the Father if there was any possible way of avoiding the horrendous events of the next day:
“‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done.’ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:42-44)
Furthermore, Matthew and Mark record the anguished cry of Jesus as he hung, dying on the cross.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34)
We need to interpret this cry of Jesus literally. As God the Son hung on the cross, he was, for the first time in eternity, utterly cut off from God the Father. God was punishing Jesus as if he had committed every sin in the world. Jesus was experiencing the full wrath of God against every act of evil that has ever been and ever will be committed. The full fury of God was being poured out upon him: the righteous anger of a holy and just God against every act of injustice and depravity and hatred and selfishness that humankind has ever committed.
As a sign of the terrible spiritual punishment that Jesus was enduring, three of the Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark and Luke, record the fact that a supernatural darkness came over the land during the crucifixion.
“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun had stopped shining.” (Luke 23:44-45)
Matthew records other extraordinary signs that took place as Jesus took his final breath:
“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.” (Matthew 27:51-53).
Significantly, Thallus, a first century Greek historian, also wrote of this supernatural darkness and the earthquake that accompanied Christ’s crucifixion. His description was later quoted by the second century Roman historian, Sextus Julius Africanus:
“On the whole world there pressed a fearful darkness, and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. Thallus calls this darkness an eclipse of the sun in the third book of histories, without reason it seems to me.”[1]
These astounding astronomical and geological phenomena at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion signify the dreadful events that were taking place in the spiritual realm. Matthew records the fact that the people surrounding the cross who witnessed these events were “terrified” (Matthew 27:54). God’s justice was being satisfied, judicial sentence was being carried out, sin was being punished, and the physical manifestations of that awful spiritual reality were enough to cause the first-century onlookers to step back in terror.
THE WONDER OF THE CROSS
This extraordinary sacrifice of Christ on the cross defies superlatives. It is unimaginably generous. It is inconceivably gracious. It speaks of a love that verges on the unthinkable: that a Father should allow his own Son to die for people who were living in rebellion to him.
I am a father. I have a daughter and a son. I think I am a reasonably kind and generous person – at least I try to be. But there is no way I would ever deliberately sacrifice the life of either of my children in order to save the life of anyone – even my best friend – let alone people who were my enemies. Yet this is precisely what God did:
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us … while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son.” (Romans 5:6-10)
The cross demonstrates the wonder of God’s unfathomable love for us. It is also the thing that separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. No other religion speaks of a dying deity – a god who comes to Earth to sacrifice himself for mere mortals. In fact, this concept is completely inconceivable to people in other faiths. Their gods are aloof and distant; imperious and demanding. But Christianity teaches that the true God is not like that at all. He created us and loves us with an unimaginable love. And when we rebelled against him, he went to the most extraordinary lengths to rescue and redeem us, even to the point of dying on a cruel Roman cross.
Never doubt the love of God. The cross of Christ is its indisputable proof. When life dishes up grief and tragedy, pain and problems, such that you begin to doubt God’s goodness, look to the cross. There you will see the undeniable evidence of God’s extraordinary love for you and me.
THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF THE CROSS
The substitutionary death of Christ for mankind is the pivotal point of human history. It is the point to which all previous history was leading and the point from which all subsequent history derives its meaning. In fact, it was God’s grand plan from the beginning of eternity to send his Son to the cross in order to rescue and redeem fallen humanity. Speaking of this eternal plan of salvation, the Apostle Peter writes:
“You were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world and was revealed in these last times for your sake.” (1 Peter 1:19-20)
The cross was not a last-minute adjustment to God’s plans when things went unforeseeably wrong. It was not God’s desperate ‘Hail Mary’ pass in response to unanticipated worsening circumstances. From “before the creation of the world” (1Peter 1:19), before any human being had been created, God knew that the cross would be necessary. In his sovereign omniscience, he foresaw that by giving us free will, we would choose to rebel against him and, in so doing, we would die spiritually. God knew that a rescue operation would need to be mounted. And the only possible way we could be rescued was for God to take our spiritual death upon himself, at least temporarily, by Jesus dying on the cross. You see, Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was already planned and decided before a single star was born, before the first sunrise on the first day, before the first human took his first breath.
This fact, in turn, reveals three further truths.
Firstly, it tells us that there was no other way to save us. Surely, if there was any other way that God could have dealt with our sin and redeemed us, God would have taken it. The fact that the plan for Jesus to die on the cross was set in place from eternity, tells us that there was no other way to save us.
Secondly, it demonstrates the great value that God places upon love that is freely given. God could have avoided the cross simply by creating us with robot-like, pre-programmed obedience, without free wills capable of rebelling against him. But this would have rendered the concept of love and devotion utterly meaningless. Love only means something if it is freely given. Obedience only means something if it is freely chosen, rather than robotically pre-programmed. God so values our freely chosen love and obedience, that he was willing to pay the ultimate price, so that some might eventually choose to love and follow him of their own free wills.
Thirdly, it reveals the extreme seriousness of sin. The fact that the Son of God was predestined to die on the cross in order to pay for our sins demonstrates how dreadful and deadly sin is. If you are ever tempted to regard sin as inconsequential, if you are ever tempted to treat it lightly, just look to the cross. There is its dire consequence, depicted in all its confronting and shocking ugliness.
THE EFFICACY OF THE CROSS
The result of this extraordinary sacrifice of Christ on the cross is the possibility of a new legal status before God for anyone who wishes it. The way has now been cleared for us to be reconciled to God. God’s justice has been satisfied. The judicial sentence has been carried out. The penalty for our sins has been paid in full. Indeed, this is indicated by Christ’s last word, as he took his final breath on the cross: “tetelestai” (τετέλεσται) – “paid in full” – recorded in John 19:30 (sometimes also translated “nothing more to pay” or “it is finished” in various translations).
Christ’s resurrection from the dead on the following Sunday morning was the ultimate proof that our debt had been paid in full and that the way back to God was now open. Christ’s crucifixion was the payment for our sin and his resurrection was the official receipt, proving that his payment was complete and sufficient. His resurrection also proves that Jesus was who he claimed to be; the eternal Son of God.
This is why the Bible declares that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the foundation of the Christian faith:
“If Christ has not been raised [from the dead], our preaching is useless and so is your faith … and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins … But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead!” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 17, 20)
The resurrection of Christ demonstrates that the curse of spiritual death has been lifted, that the way back to God has been opened and that all who submit to Christ in faith and repentance will one day rise to eternal life as well. The resurrection of Jesus from the dead heralds the future resurrection of all who will trust in him. This is what the Bible is referring to when it says:
“Christ has indeed been raised from the dead; the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep [died]” (1 Corinthians 15:20)
Because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and his resurrection from the dead, the way is now opened for mankind to be reconciled to God:
“Christ died for sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)
This is a truly stunning development. The criminal awaiting execution on death row has received an eleventh-hour pardon. Someone else has stepped in and been executed in his place. His debt has been paid, the prison cell door has been opened and he is free to go. This does not mean that this allegorical criminal is innocent. He is not. He is still guilty of the crimes he committed. But he has been pardoned. Someone else has paid for his crimes. And because of that, his death sentence has been remitted. He is set free and will henceforth be treated as if he is not guilty. This is what theologians refer to as imputed righteousness. Even though the criminal is guilty of crimes, he is now treated as if he had never committed them. He is gifted with an innocent status and is now able to participate in all the privileges that this new status confers upon him. He is free to re-enter society and enjoy all the benefits of unfettered citizenship.
This is the allegory that the Bible uses to describe the new legal standing before God that all who are in Christ have been granted. Our sins are paid for. Our condemnation has been removed. We have been set free to live in relationship with God as he intended.
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh.” (Romans 8:1-3)
DEAD MAN WALKING
With all of this in mind, we turn to the description given in all three Gospels of Jesus’ final walk towards Jerusalem as he approached his looming crucifixion.
“Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. On the way, he took the Twelve aside and said to them, 18 ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death 19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!’” (Matthew 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34)
Prior to this, on at least five other occasions,[2] Jesus had explained to his disciples that he was going to sacrifice himself and then rise again, but they had not understood.[3] Now the time had finally come, and Jesus determinedly walked toward Jerusalem, knowing all that lay before him. In fact, this final walk began in Galilee where we are told,
“When the day drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face toward Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51)
He set his face toward Jerusalem. He deliberately walked toward his death.
How must Jesus have felt as he walked the road from Galilee to Jerusalem for the last time? How lonely must he have felt, knowing that even his closest disciples had no concept of what he was about to do? How terrified must he have felt, knowing everything that was about to be done to him? And yet he kept walking, one foot in front of the other. A dead man walking.
It is in this context that Jesus approaches the city of Jerusalem one last time and looks down on it from the heights of the hills above and weeps for its citizens. I briefly mentioned this in the previous chapter, but now we can appreciate it in its full context. Jesus is about to be arrested, tortured and die a cruel and agonising death. He must have been terrified of what was about to be done to him. Yet despite this, we read of his incredible concern and anguish for the suffering that would soon come upon the people of Jerusalem:
“As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”” (Luke 19:41-44)
Jesus is prophesying the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the genocide of its citizens by the Roman army in 70 AD, approximately forty years in the future from his perspective. And most amazing of all, he weeps for these people rather than for himself. He is about to be tortured and crucified, yet he weeps for people whose suffering and deaths are still forty years distant! I can’t comprehend this level of selflessness and compassion.
It is a selflessness that continued until his final breath. Even as he hung dying on the cross, in physical and spiritual torment, he was thinking of others. In John’s Gospel we read:
“Then the soldiers crucified Jesus … Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.” (John 19:23-27)
Even as he was dying, in the midst of terrible suffering, Jesus was caring for his mother. He ensured her ongoing welfare by asking his disciple, John, to take care of her from that time on (as she appeared to have been a widow by then). And Jesus’ selflessness extended even to those who were crucifying him. As the soldiers and onlookers continued to mock and torment him, Jesus prayed,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
What incredible selflessness! What compassion! What grace! What love! If ever you have cause to doubt the love of God for you – if trouble and suffering comes upon you so that you begin to question God’s goodness – look to the cross. Witness the love of God that was poured out for you and for all mankind. It is a love beyond measure and beyond comprehension. It is a love that permeated all that Jesus said and did and which culminated in the most extraordinary act of sacrifice.
Behold your dying God.
And be thankful.
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[1] Thallus – Third book of his history
[2] Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23; John 2:19-21; 10:17-18; 12:23-24
[3] Mark 9:32, “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him.”