Jesus called out with a loud voice, i "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." j When he had said this, he breathed his last LK 23:46.
Let us remember the ancient liturgy. Christ has died.....
"Man Owed a debt he could not pay. Christ paid a debt He did not owe." Anslem.
"How deep the Father's love for us,How vast beyond all measure That He should give His only Son To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,The Father turns His face away As wounds which mar the chosen One,Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,My sin upon His shoulders Ashamed I hear my mocing voice,Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished His dying breath has brought me life know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom (How Deep the Father's Love for us, Stuart Towned)
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of glory died,My richest gain I count but loss,And pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,Save in the death of Christ my God!All the vain things that charm me most,I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet,Sorrow and love flow mingled down!Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine,That were a present far too small;Love so amazing, so divine,Demands my soul, my life, my all. (Hymn, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross Isaac Watts pub 1707)
Today is Good Friday and is a day every Christian should have a heavy heart.
This day marks the observance (can we please have one thing that is somber in our modern church?) of Christ's death for the sins of the world.
Christ was arrested, tried by a kangaroo court and put to death. His death was the method of a common criminal.
Amazingly this was foretold centuries before it occurred.
Genesis 3:15 (NIV)
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Perhaps one of the longest passages comes from the prophet Isaiah:
“Who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors” Isaiah 53:1-12).
Think all the Psalms are Happy clappy songs about our victory in the Lord? Think again. This is part of Psalm 22 which depicts the way Christ would die.
Many bulls w surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Ps 22:13 Roaring lions tearing their prey open their mouths wide against me.
Ps 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. c My heart has turned to wax; d it has melted away e within me.
Ps 22:15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd, f and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; g you lay me 41 in the dust h of death.
Ps 22:16 Dogs i have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced 42 j my hands and my feet.
Ps 22:17 I can count all my bones; people stare k and gloat over me. l
Ps 22:18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots m for my clothing.
The prophet Daniel, writing cir. 536 B.C. foretold that Christ would be "Cut off" meaning he would be killed. This was one of the important events relating to his famous seventy weeks prophecies about the end times.
After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off k and will have nothing. 32 The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: l War will continue until the end, and desolations m have been decreed. n
When Christ died, he took our place on the cross. As a wonderful hymn says "Every sin on him was laid" (In Christ Alone) sums it up nicely. When Christ died, not only did he die an extremely painful death, but he took the entire wrath of God in our place. All this so we may have Eternal Life through Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
And check out Romans 5: 6-12 which gives the reason and results of Christ's death for all those who are saved.
Ro 5:6 You see, at just the right time, s when we were still powerless, t Christ died for the ungodly. u
Ro 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
Ro 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. v
Ro 5:9 Since we have now been justified w by his blood, x how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath y through him!
Ro 5:10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, z we were reconciled a to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! b
Ro 5:11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. c
Ro 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, d and death through sin, e and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned f —
But how is one to have this precious gift? The only way is by God's Grace through faith. In other words, by putting faith in Christ death for your sins, ergo, trusting that he is all you need for salvation will turn you from a Child of Sin to a Child of God. Here are some verses.
9 who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 2 TM 1:9
5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, Titus 3:5.
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:9-10
:Eph 2:8.
For it is by grace v you have been saved, w through faith x —and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
Eph 2:9 not by works, y so that no one can boast. z
All this because Christ paid such a high price so many years ago. Am I thankful he did? Yes. Am I somber and with a heave heart because of what it cost God's son?????
You bet.
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