Before I came to accept Jesus as my Savior, I really didn’t understand the cross. People would tell me how much it meant to them and some would get emotional. But my thought was lots of people died on crosses. For example, at the end of the rebellion led by Spartacus in around 72 BC, 6000 rebels were crucified at once along the Appian Way. The crosses stretched from Rome to Capua. And that is just a fraction of the myriad of hundreds of thousands that were executed in this way by the Romans.
And many have misconstrued that crucifixion was a Roman invention, it was not. Macedonians, Carthaginians, Persians and even Jews used it as the ultimate form of humiliation and death. So again, I would ask why is the death of an itinerant carpenter turned preacher over 2000 years ago so critical to His followers?
I still struggled this question even after I was baptized. I would study the Bible, I would read the gospels but when it came to those last chapters, I would skim through the crucifixion and hurry on to the resurrection. Jesus resurrected that I could hold on to feeling warm and fuzzy. Not the Savior bruised and beaten, naked on the cross. I still believed I could be an ‘all in’ Christian without the cross. But in my heart, I knew something was missing.
All of it came to a head when I was reading a great book on the life of Christ called, “The Desire of Ages” on page 83 it says this, “It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones.” (Desire of Ages Pg. 83) I had heard it before but when I read it about a year ago, I was convicted. I had to come to grips with the cross.
I started by intentionally reading the gospel chapters specifically about Jesus trial and crucifixion, rotating gospels each day. It was hard. For the first time I had to be open to understanding why Jesus needed to die as He did. I found myself looking at the specifics of crucifixion as done by the Romans. I read books and listened to sermons, on line, that spoke of its importance. I prayed to find an understanding. And as I was reading an article just the other day it came clear, really clear for the first time.
To me it all came down to three of the last four sets of words Jesus spoke from the cross, “My God, my God, why have Thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46); “It is finished (John 19:30) and “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” (Luke 23:46). I found within the context of these three statements why Jesus crucifixion stands alone. Unlike so many thousands of others only the Son of the triune God could make these statements and win back a fallen world, lost so long before in the Garden of Eden. These words changed the world and like so many others, my life also.
“My God, my God why have Thou forsaken me?” Something needs to be noticed right away. Even amid the anguish in the garden Jesus still cries out to “Abba” Father, but here at this moment on the cross Abba is no longer. Now it is “Eloi” El, the God Almighty, the God-All holy. The moment has come. And Jesus has become sin. No longer the beloved Son, but Sin of the World. Your sin, my sin. All the suffering before. The blood sweat of Gethsemane. Scourged and spat on. Crown of thorns. Nails through hands and feet. All horrific. But He now stands where none has stood before or since, enduring at one tiny point in space and time all sin, cloaking the world in darkness and even more separating Him from the Father. “For our sake He made Him sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). God separated from God, not in the realms of their eternal existence, that could not happen. But word made flesh, human in every way now lost. Never before had anything come between Him and the Father. But now in the sacrificial vortex He stands before the Judge of the universe and is found guilty. Broken, in our place he cries, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” As He does fulfilling prophecy from Psalm 22, in a broken Aramaic translation of verse one from that Psalm. “My God, my God, why have Thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1). Therefore, Son of God on a cross is different. Thousands of crosses but only one named “God with us” bearing the unbearable burden.
But it does not end there. No one knows what goes on between the forsakenness of that cry and the intimate statement of Jesus now reunited with “Abba” Father as He says, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” But it seems sure that Jesus has drained the cup He so wished would pass Him less than 24 hours before. He says “It is finished” Then He quotes again from the Psalms. This time Psalm 31. But He adds, Abba to the beginning. The Father has accepted His sacrifice. The curtain is torn in two now all can approach the Holy of Holies. The lamb so long awaited has been slain. Satan loses, us undeserving sinners win! The Father now proudly holds out his hand to the spirit of his Beloved Son.
The same book I spoke of earlier speaks of it in this way, “Suddenly the gloom lifted from the cross, and in clear trumpetlike tones that seemed to resound throughout creation, Jesus cried, “It is finished.” “Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit.” A light encircled the cross, and the face of the Savior shone with a glory like the sun. He then bowed His head upon His breast and died.” (Desire of Ages 756.2) Jesus no longer victim but victor. I am saved, So are you!
I know I am not at the end of my journey, just the beginning. We will be studying the cross for eternity. But I am happy today that I have finally begun. It is my hope for all who read this that you will join with me in a prayer from the book of Galatians, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Galatians 6:14) It is my goal this year to spend time every day at the foot of His cross. I pray you will join me.
Blessings John
