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Pastor Bill Lobbs The actual whereabouts of the cross that Jesus died upon is not known today. Crosses were not collectables in that day. Possibly it now lies buried under the rocks and sands of time. Perhaps it was later used as building materials, or maybe it was used over and over for others to be crucified on, or it might have eventually in time rotted away and the winds of time scattered its fragments. No one really knows. Now, while we don't know what happened to the cross that Jesus died on, we do know what happened on that cross and that is what is most important. From the creation of Adam to the birth of Christ, God had displayed his love toward mankind in many ways. But never had it been revealed in such measure as it was on the cross of Calvary. It was not a love feeling expressed, but it was agape' love displayed, agape' love that was visibly demonstrated. I John 3: 16, "Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his life for us." God did not simply say "I love you" and then go on his way. No! God said "I love you--now let me show you how much." The Scriptures teach us that God has always loved us. The Apostle Paul describes the depth of that love in the words of John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Where did God give up his son for those he loved? We know the answer to that. It was on the cross. To those who have questioned God's love for them--I simply point to the cross and to the one who died on it as an affirmation of that love to them. The cross of Calvary leaves no doubt as to the sincerity and the magnitude of God's love for all of us. Does God really love us? I say look to the crucified Jesus. Look to the old rugged cross.
God said, "I love you!"
God said, I love you!" The cross does not answer why God
loves us, but it does answer the question of how much. I like the
way the contemporary English version translates Romans 5: 8. In
the KJV we read: This is the kind of love that atheist
Madelyn O'Hare wanted, but never found. Somewhere I read that the IRS
auctioned off her diary to raise money for her taxes and creditors after
she mysteriously disappeared. To everyone's surprise, when the diary was
opened, she had written in several places.
"Somebody - somewhere - love me."
Tragically, though desperately seeking to be loved, she turned her back
on the one person who did love her in the way she wanted to be loved.
That person was Jesus Christ.
What is the secret of the cross? What has so empowered it that enables you and I to find, at Calvary, what we cannot find anywhere else? I think part of the answer is found in the sufferings of the one who died there. The pain of the sin offering that was offered on Golgotha's cross is two-fold. It was both physical and spiritual in nature. A. The Physical Suffering:
Jesus suffered all these wounds. Yes, Jesus suffered real physical pain. But what Jesus suffered physically by itself does not give the power to the cross. We must add with it the spiritual pain and suffering that Jesus endured on the cross. This is what made Jesus' death on the cross different than any other. B. The Spiritual Suffering: II Corinthians 5: 21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The world's sin was placed on Jesus at Calvary; past, present, and future. Jesus carried them all on the cross when he was nailed there. The Living Bible paraphrases II Corinthians 5: 21 this way; "For God took the sinless Christ and poured our sins into him." Jesus cry on the cross of "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" is one of the most haunting and agonizing sayings in the Bible. It revealed to those present that day, and to us today who read the story, that when Jesus became sin for us the Father must turn his back on the Son. For the love of the world, God gave up his Son, his beloved Son. He had withdrawn heavens support and delivered Jesus to the cross to pay sin's penalty. The Lamb of God had to die. It was sacrifice time. I suggest to you that it was knowing that this was what awaited him on the cross (the loss of the Father's presence) that prompted Jesus to ask the Father three times in Gethsemane's Garden "If it be possible, let this cup be taken from me." I don't believe Jesus feared the beatings that he would suffer. He wasn't afraid of the scourging whip that would soon cut across his back. He wasn't trying to avoid the pain of the nails that would pierce his hands and feet, nor the crown of thorns on his head. It was none of these things that caused Jesus to cry out to the Father. It was knowing that on the cross he would have to take our God forsakenness upon himself. The ultimate penalty is to be "God forsaken." Jesus suffered this when he became the sin offering for the world. He suffered the most agonizing sorrow and pain anyone could ever suffer. Yes, the nails had caused excruciating pain. Those driven spikes had crushed the median nerves sending fiery pain throughout his limbs. Yes, the Roman scourging had been almost unendurable agony. Each time the arm of the inquisitor had brought back the whip it carried with it fragments of Jesus flesh. But those spikes and that scourging could not compare to the pain and torment caused by the loss of the Father's presence that Jesus felt in his inner being as he hung on Calvary's cross. At this time, only Jesus knows what it is like to be forsaken by the Father. It happened to him on the cross where he was doing for us what we could not do for ourselves - paying our sin debt. Jesus, in his physical and spiritual sufferings, paid it all. He paid it in full. Point 5:What is the message of the cross? Simply this. God has taken care of the sin problem. It was the cross that God chose to be the battleground where satan and his kingdom was to be challenged. Was satan present at the cross? I don't think for a minute that he would have missed it. Both satan and Jesus had an appointment at Calvary. It was at the cross that Jesus took on the prince of the powers of the air. The visible eye beheld nothing of the conflict that was taking place. But in the spirit realm, a life and death struggle was going on. For three days and nights the devil was sure he was winning. But on the first day of the week, when the dust of battle had settled, there stood Jesus, hands raised in victory saying. "I am he that liveth and was dead and am alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and of death." There are many people today who are still not aware of just exactly what the death of Jesus Christ on the cross did for them. They don't understand that the tyrant, sin that held them captive and in bondage all their life, has been defeated and dethroned. Because of the cross, God has promised pardon and forgiveness of sin to all who will accept it. It is offered as a free gift. Jesus paid for it with his own blood that was shed at Calvary. Let me give you an example to what I'm saying by sharing with you a story that I recently read in one of the history books in my library. I read how on July 3l, 1838 on the Island of Jamaica, a man named William Knibbs, gathered 10,000 slaves for a great praise gathering. They were celebrating the New Emancipation Proclamation Act that would abolish slavery on the island. They had built an immense coffin and into it were placed whips, branding irons, chains, fetters of all kinds, slave garments and all the things that represented the terrible slavery system that was now coming to a welcome end. At the first stroke of the midnight bell, Knibbs shouted out, "The monster is dying." At each stroke of the bell that followed this cry was repeated and the great crowd began to join in the cry. At the twelfth stoke 10,000 voices cried out, "The monster is dead, the monster is dead, let us bury him." They then screwed the coffin lid down and lowered it into a huge grave and covered it up. That night, every heart rejoiced and 10,000 voices grew hoarse, shouting and crying with joy. Once they were in bondage to slavery, but now they were free. There is a tragic side to this story. While many rejoiced in their new liberty and freedom, there were some slaves, that lived in remote areas of the island, that did not know they had legally been set free. Because they didn't know, for many years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been made a law, they still continued to serve their slave masters. Their former masters successfully kept the news from them as long as they could. By law they had been declared free men and did not have to live as slaves any longer. However, ignorance of the truth kept them in bondage. Now let me tell you an even sadder story. Today, if we'd hear a story of something like that happening, we'd be shocked, sympathetic and even angry. But the truth is, the same type of thing is happening in our day. Jesus Christ, because of his victory against sin on the cross, has issued an Emancipation Proclamation of liberty and freedom from sin to everyone on this earth. But like some of the Jamaicans were, there are those today that just don't understand that they no longer have to live as slaves to sin any longer, and the devil is trying to keep them in that mind set. The message of the cross is this: Satan
has been defeated and sin's penalty has been paid. We no longer have to
surrender to sin or be controlled by Satan. We can belong to Jesus and
live to please God.
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Christ whom we preach as the Almighty God manifest in the flesh.
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