The Day Jesus Died
I want to tell you about the Day Jesus Died. Jesus died to redeem the human race from sin. You know this and I know this, but we need to know it better. We often get led astray in our pursuit of God. Sometimes our focus becomes fuzzy and our attention is drawn away from the simple, fundamental and basic truth upon which the Church is built: The Cross of Christ.
God’s heart is to redeem the human race. This is the only reason Jesus came to earth. This is the only reason God gave His Son… because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” This is the reason for the existence of the Church. This is why every preacher has ever been called to preach and why every missionary has been sent into the nations of the world. This is why we have the Bible. God want men redeemed. Redeemed from the curse of sin. Redeemed from the reality of death. Redeemed from the plans and schemes satan has designed for your destruction. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested… that He might destroy the works of the devil…” (I John 3:8) God wants you to live and not die. This is why Jesus died on the Cross.
There are at lease six FACTS in the REDEMPTIVE PLAN God has set forth for the human race that we need to see. Each one of these facts concerns a specific part of the Ministry of Jesus. When we focus on JESUS we touch the heart of God. Jesus is the CENTRAL SUBJECT of GOD’S REDEMPTIVE PLAN for Man. It is not Systems or Doctrines or Churches or Denominations or Traditions or Religions… IT IS JESUS. It is not Preachers or Ministries or Programs or Procedures or Personalities… IT IS JESUS.
1. The PRE-EXISTENCE of JESUS. Jesus was with the Father at the time of the Creation. “Let us make…” is the statement God made as He initiated Creation. Jesus existed with God in all the dateless past. Jesus is God. And there is No God Like Jehovah!
2. The BIRTH of JESUS. This was the fulfillment of the Prophetic Utterances of OT prophets and the Completion of the Promises God had made concerning a COMING MESSIAH-REDEEMER. The Birth of Jesus came in the “fullness of times” according to the Master Plan of Father God. Jesus was Prophesied and Promised and Foreordained. (Gen 3:15) Jesus came at the precise time and in the prescribed manner that GOD HAD SAID.
3. The MINISTRY of JESUS. He came to SET THE EXAMPLE and ESTABLISH GOD’S PLAN for the Church on Earth. He Preached, He Taught, He Healed the Sick, He Cast out devils and He Raised the Dead. He SET IN MOTION the PLAN of GOD for the CHURCH on Earth… and it is STILL BEING CARRIED OUT.
4. The DEATH of JESUS on the CROSS. This is where we are right now. We are considering the CROSS. The Church is once again forced to come to the Cross and to Behold the Suffering Savior. He suffered in preparation for Sovereignty. He could not be SOVERIGN without SUFFERING. HIS BLOOD RATIFIED the COVENANT GOD has given to the Church and made all the REDEMPTIVE PRIVILEGES and POWERS WORKABLE. “For by one offering, He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified…” (Heb 10:14)
5. The RESURRECTION of JESUS from the DEAD. His Resurrection from the dead provided POWER and ABILITY and AUTHORITY to implement and fulfill the Plan of God for the Human Race. “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you…” (Rom 8:11) Resurrection Power is the Enabling Power and Authority of the New Creation. It is the very FORCE that PREVAILS and grants the CHURCH of the LIVING GOD VICTORY over DEATH, HELL and the GRAVE. Hallelujah.
6. The ASCENTION of JESUS into HEAVEN. The ASCENTION of Jesus ESTABLISHED the BELIEVER’S HEAVENLY POSITION “IN CHRIST” “And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” (Eph 2:6) “…because as He is so are we in this world…” (I John 4:17)
The Day Jesus Died, He said some things as He hung on the Cross. These seven statements are recorded in the four Gospels and they give us a glimpse of the kind of Man Jesus Really was.
We can see how He responded to adversity and suffering and injustice. We can see His Heart. His reaction to such brutality and depravity gives us a picture of the heart of God. We can learn how we are to react to situations that satan throws in our face and to trials and tests that come in our lives.
STATEMENT ONE: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do…” (Luke 23:34)
Then…. after He was REJECTED and FORSAKEN by His friends and BETRAYED by His disciples… his closest followers and students and fellow ministers.
How do YOU deal with REJECTION? With BETRAYAL? With UNFAITHFULNESS? What is your reaction to injustice and unfairness and false accusations? How do you feel toward those who LIE about you and GOSSIP about you and PLOT for your DOWNFALL? What would you do in similar circumstances?
Then… after He was taken to 6 illegal trials and hearings throughout the entire night? The legal and religious structure was bent in favor of His Enemies and lies and false accusations were cast in His Face.
Then… after He had been scourged (beaten and whipped mercilessly) with whips and rods. (12 thongs on the whip and each thong was tipped with bone, metal and glass fragments) Isaiah said His Visage (appearance) was so marred (disfigured) more than any man and His form more than the sons of men that many were astonished (shocked at the way He looked) at Him (Isaiah 52:14) His flesh had the texture of ground meat and yet He prayed: “Father, forgive them… they don’t really understand what they are doing…”
CAN YOU FORGIVE? HAVE YOU FORGIVEN? Do you have a grudge or grudges? Do you have bad feelings toward others? Are you not speaking and refusing to communicate? What right do you have to stay in strife and bitterness and unforgiveness? Has anyone done to you WHAT THESE DID TO JESUS?
Jesus looks beyond the OUTWARD ACT into the INTENTS of the HEART. “They do not know what they are doing…” In essence, Jesus is saying “They are not responsible for what they are doing… they are being driven by a force they do not understand… it is the nature of the devil in them… Father, be merciful to them… they do not realize what they are doing…” “O Father, see their POTENTIAL FOR GOOD not the visible actions of evil.”
Lack of forgiveness hinders prayers and causes strife. It is the foundation of backsliding and the cause of bitterness. It wrecks homes, families, and businesses. It keeps Divine Forgiveness from coming your way. Only as you FORGIVE can you be FORGIVEN. It breeds sickness and disease and hinders ministers and ministries. JESUS TAUGHT us HOW TO FORGIVE. Forgive those who despitefully use you and persecute you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely. Pray for them, Love them, and Forgive them. FORGIVNESS is a CALVARY ATTITUDE and it is learned at the CROSS.
STATEMENT 2: “Today thou shalt be with Me in Paradise…” (Luke 23:43)
A guilty, tried and convicted common criminal simply asks for Mercy. “Remember me when you come into your kingdom…” REMEMBER ME. REMEMBER ME. He was not a church member and had never been. He was not a disciple or a follower of Jesus. He had no character and no reputation and no good intention. He had run with the wrong crowd and justice had caught up with him. NOW… this common, uneducated, unwanted and guilty criminal RECEIVED and UNDERSTOOD what the Jewish Nation and Organized Religion was BLIND to COMPREHEND. GOD is no RESPECTER of PERSONS. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely. He cares for the criminals and the pimps and the prostitutes. He is compassionate toward drunks and the queers and the thieves and the robbers and the rapists and the murderers. JESUS is COLOR-BLIND. JESUS is not just a WHITE, BLACK, YELLOW, BROWN, RED or AMERICAN JESUS. HE IS GOD. He is LORD OF ALL. He is GOD of the UNIVERSE and all the INHABITANTS THEREOF. He is committed to saving all who will call upon His Name. “For whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord shall be Saved…” (Rom 10:13) His Kingdom is OPEN to WHOSOEVER WILL. How strange that a CRIMINAL was the FIRST TROPHY of DIVINE GRACE. Cleansed, Restored, Forgiven, and Made Acceptable by the BLOOD. The Cross is the PLACE OF MERCY and GRACE.
STATEMENT 3: “Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to the disciple, Behold, thy mother. (John 19:26-27)
Even in the time of such great agony and suffering, JESUS was thinking of OTHERS. OTHERS who were hurting and lonely and wounded and bruised and sad. Jesus always CONSIDERS OTHERS. That is the essence of the CROSS. OTHERS. The NATIONS and KINDREDS and TONGUES and PEOPLES of the earth. The hurting and the wounded and the bruised and the broken. The sad and the grief-stricken and the hopeless and the forsaken. OTHERS. That is MISSIONS. That is the PURPOSE of the CHURCH. We are commanded and mandated to “PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR…” Jesus was thinking of OTHERS as he hung on the CROSS. His mother. Her hurt and disappointment. Her shattered hopes and dreams. Her broken heart. He committed her into the care of the disciple standing at the foot of the Cross. “From now on, she will be your mother… you must care for her and provide for her and comfort her. She needs help. She is now ‘your mother'”.
Did you know that JESUS CONSIDERED YOU in His Death? He was thinking about YOU in His agony and suffering. His heartbeat was always for OTHERS. That includes YOU and ME. “For the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross…” (Heb 12:2)
STATEMENT 4: “I thirst…” John 19:28
Thirst is one of the most agonizing demands of the human body. It is compounded by the physical torture inflicted by Crucifixion. The body fluids are depleted. The fever rises and the tongue swells. The lips are dry and parched. Here we see the absolute Humanity of the Lord Jesus. He limited himself to the confines of human flesh. He was weak and vulnerable. He was hurting and He was thirsty. He Who was the LIVING WATER is now POURED OUT because of the sin of the human race. He suffered that we might reign. He was wounded that we might be healed. He was thirsty that we might drink of Him and “never thirst”. He is the Fountain but He allowed Himself to become dry so that we can be forever refreshed. His cry for water was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Psalm 69: 20-21: “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink…” He became in totality what lost humanity was that we might become in totality what GOD MADE HIM TO BE.
Jesus is LIVING WATER. Jesus is REFRESHMENT. Jesus is LIFE.
STATEMENT 5: “My God, My God why hast Thou forsaken me? Mat 27:46
No sadder words are recorded in the Bible than these. Here we are confronted with the real cause of the Death of Christ. He died of a broken heart. A heart that was broken because His Father could not “look on sin” and was therefore forced to “forsake” His Only Begotten Son. God the Father turned His Back on Jesus because Jesus was made Sin for us. “For He (God) hath made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us… (2 Cor 5:21). The eternal Fellowship and Communion that they enjoyed was broken and breached because of my sin and yours. Jesus died of a broken heart. He was accustomed to being forsaken by friend and foe. He was accustomed to being forsaken by His Country and His Religion. He was accustomed to being forsaken by his own family. He had never… not one time…. ever…. been out of fellowship with the Father. And now that eternal relationship is severed by sin. He cried in agony “Father, why have you left Me? Why have you deserted Me?” No one will ever know the loneliness and emptiness Jesus experienced in order that we might NEVER BE FORSAKEN or LEFT ALONE or DESERTED. He became what we were (without God) in order that we can BE AS HE IS RIGHT NOW. “Hallelujah. What a Savior.”
STATEMENT 6: “Father, into Thy Hands I commend My Spirit…” Luke 23:46
Jesus had declared earlier that: “I lay down my life for the sheep… no man taketh it (My Life) away from Me, but I lay it down of Myself…” John 10:15,18.
Jesus’ death was no accident. Contrary to the Hollywood hype, Jesus was not a wimp, and He was not confused or disillusioned. He came to die. He was Born to Die. Yet, He exercised total and complete authority over death by the Power of the Holy Ghost in Him. Death could not come to Him unless He allowed it to. No man could take His life from Him. He had the power of life and death. He willingly laid down His life… He voluntarily gave His Life; it was not taken from Him and satan did not kill Him. He chose death in order to give us Life. “I am come that you might have Life and have it more abundantly…” John 10:10. The Abundant, God-Kind of life comes out of His Death. He died that we might Live.
STATEMENT 7: “It is finished…” John 19:30
Jesus declared that IT is completed. IT is fulfilled. IT is accomplished. What is finished?
1. The fulfillment of Scriptures referring to His suffering and death
2. The defeat of satan and the powers of darkness
3. The breaking down of the “middle wall” of partition
4. Provision for personal access to God the Father
5. The cancellation of the reign of death
6. The cancellation of sin’s power and dominion
7. The demonstration of Love and Obedience of Jesus to the death
8. The Perfection of Jesus as the Sacrificial Lamb
9. Salvation and deliverance from all sin
10. Restoring of Peace between Man and God
11. The penalty of Death full paid
12. Man released from the kingdom of darkness
13. Satisfaction of the full justice of God in payment for sin
14. Physical Healing for all through the Blood
15. The way for the full anointing of the Holy Ghost
16. The establishment of the New Covenant
“It is finished,” means that man has nothing to do but believe and accept. It means that it is not of works, lest any man should boast. It means that God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost have done all that is necessary for the full restoration of the Image of God in fallen humanity. It means that Jesus is the Perfect and Final Sacrifice… “once for all” He has entered into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled His Blood on the Mercy Seat perfecting Salvation for “Whosoever shall call on the Name of Jesus…” Hallelujah.
dickbraswell 
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