Through the past while I've slowly been reading through the Gospel of John. Last night I read chapter 19, John's account of Jesus' condemnation, beatings, crucifixion and burial.
And as I read I thought about the various things I've heard about how cruel the Roman scourgings and crucifixions were. That led me to thinking, "Jesus lived through that scourging which killed many people. It was not a 'chance' that He lived through that. To fulfill the Plan He had to be crucified, even though it meant enduring so much pain before He ever got to the Cross. He carried the Cross, beaten, bloody, and weak as He was. He felt the nails being pounded into His wrists and feet, even though every nerve in His human body must have screamed, 'NO!'
Worst of all was the feeling of being forsaken by His Father. The physical pain probably would have seemed much less painful if only He could have felt the Father's nearness. Psalm 22:24 tells us that God did not hide His face, and that He heard the cry of His Son. But for the sake of all humanity, the Sacrifice must feel the entire weight of our sin. The just and jealous God required the sacrifice to be paid, though His Father heart wept to see His only begotten Son hanging on a cross, crying for the Father, and hearing His own righteous Name mocked by the crowd.
But the Father and Son had planned this before the earth was created. This was not some backup plan, this was the Master Plan. So the plan must be completed, cost what it did. God would have done this if only Adam had sinned. He would have done this if only you or I would have sinned.
In my mind, the whole scene takes only 2 words to describe it -- sin and love. Those 2 words capture a picture that human's greatest happiness and deepest pain cannot match. The sin -- needed to be removed, and though the animal sacrifices covered the sin for a time, they never removed the sin but it was remembered each year (Hebrews 10:1-4, 11). The love -- (John 3:16) Because He loved, He gave the ultimate sacrifice, the ONLY one which could ever remove the sin.
The Father's heart wept. The Son lived through agony, was abandoned by all disciples, died a robber's death on false charges, all for the love that they bore to you, me, and all humanity.
Folks, if this isn't love, there is no love. If this doesn't describe love at its height, nothing will ever be love.
Because of the Cross, we are justified. And because of the resurrection, we must also be sanctified through His living in us.
