Jesus finished removing every obstacle to salvation in your way and mine and gave us free entry into the Holy of Holies, into the very Presence of the Living God.
When I went to my prayer chair in my prayer corner this morning, suddenly I wasn’t there – I was back at Calvary. My heart was bleeding tears as I began to probe the cost of the costliest, most important and riches-filled and triumphant 3 WORDS ever uttered in all of human history.
As I think back over all the pictures I have seen of Jesus on the Cross, I don’t think they depict the true, brutal reality. Jesus looks peaceful, as if He could be sleeping (!!!) and there is not a mark on His face or body.
On Thursday night, in the dungeon under the High Priest’s palace, Jesus could have died from blood loss and dehydration. Don’t forget that He had already drunk the CUP in Gethsemane. While He was drinking the CUP a terrorizing, icy chill of loneliness began to fill His soul and body. Shortly before, He had been in the warm embrace of His loving Father and the Holy Spirit. But no love, no warmth now.
What happened to that love? God hates sin and (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus was made to be sin – to be everything that God hated. He was abandoned to a total aloneness which is HELL. Jesus descended into the hell - - all part of the incalculable price of the essential 3 WORDS. I’ve heard people say that if they go to hell they’ll have plenty of company. That is a dangerous and devilish delusion. Hell is solitary confinement where the only voice ever heard is their own – screaming in anguish, begging for relief, tortured by growing, burning, never fulfilled lust – for them (Jude 13) the gloom of the blackness of darkness is reserved forever, AND ALL BY PERSONAL CHOICE.
But next morning Jesus is still able to stand (HOW?) so on to the scourging. Many prisoners died under the Roman lash. As the flagellant wielded the whip, the many lashes would curl around the whole body – shredding the back and tearing, ripping, bruising the sides, chest and stomach. Can Jesus still stand? Yes, so it’s time for the hardened, vicious soldiers to punch, slap, torture Him. Jesus was punched in the face so many times that His face didn’t even look human. Face, back, stomach, chest all bruised, torn, shredded, bleeding and swollen enormously. Do you see what I’m missing in the artists’ renditions?
Listen to this from Isaiah 52:14/Amplified Bible:
“For many the Servant of God became an object of horror; many were astonished at Him. His face and His whole appearance were marred more than any man’s and His form beyond that of the sons of men.”
The holy, spotless, unblemished Passover Lamb of God became one big, misshapen, revolting blemish. Right now, I’m clinging closely to the Holy Spirit because I know that I’m speaking of holy things. I desperately need His clear guidance. I fear the danger of misrepresenting sacred, eternal TRUTH.
Do we dare say that very small, “almost insignificant SINS” don’t matter? Many people still don’t know that (Isaiah 53:5) He was wounded for our transgressions. Because He was broken and spilled out, we can be made whole.
It was Friday afternoon of Passover Week and getting close to 3:00 P.M. The priests were in the holy place (Hebrews 9:2-3) preparing sacrificial lambs for the evening sacrifice. But inside and beyond that area, a second curtain sealed off the Holy of Holies. That inner veil made access to the Holy of Holies impossible. Entry was forbidden to all except the High Priest and him only once each year. The penalty would have been death if anyone had tried to enter the place of God’s Presence.
Why did God choose that time – 3:00 P.M. – exactly when Jesus spoke those 3 WORDS – to tear open the veil from top to bottom and expose the Holy of Holies and why did nobody die? God had to wait for that appointed time when Jesus would finish what was given to Him to do. Look back at the Cross – Jesus has just died and because He died (John 11:25-26) nobody else would ever have to die. His last WORDS were the 3 WORDS that finished it all. He finished satisfying God’s fury of burning wrath and divine judgment. He finished restoring what Adam threw away. He finished making full atonement for our sin. He finished removing every obstacle to salvation in your way and mine and gave us free entry into the Holy of Holies, into the very Presence of the Living God.
The animal sacrifices had been temporary I.O.U.s against an outstanding debt. But He finished all that permanently by paying our full sin debt once and for all. His victorious, triumphant 3 WORDS were an eternal proclamation to (Colossians 2:15) principalities and powers and also to sinners. He finished everything (John 17:4) the Father gave Him to do.
He was buried spiritually alive but still encased in His broken, bruised, disfigured human body. He rose in the beauty, holiness and perfection of His glorified human body. Because He lives (Philippians 3:21) we shall live also in the beauty, holiness and perfection of our glorified human bodies.
When we hold our Bibles in our hands, do we remember that every Word is alive and (Hebrews 4:12) full of power? Are we aware that this written Word is (John 1:14) the backdrop for the Living Word? When we enter the Holy of Holies in the (Isaiah 57:15) high and holy place to pray – do we pause in worship, wonder in gratitude for the tremendous cost of the 3 WORDS? Think – ponder – meditate – if Jesus had not reached that point when with His last breath, He could say “IT IS FINISHED” then no Bible and no prayer. My mind is straining – what was the MAN He is and the GOD He is feeling while He was speaking those words? But He finished and earned the right to say those powerful 3 WORDS and that is why (Ephesians 2:8) salvation is God’s free gift. We could never work for, earn or merit salvation. Jesus already suffered, earned, paid for, merited and finished it on our behalf (who were helpless) and He offers eternal life freely to anyone who chooses (John 1:12) to put their faith in Him.
We need to be on guard in these critical times that we don’t let well-known Truth become so familiar that we can take it lightly and don’t pay much attention to it. Each and every day those victorious 3 WORDS should have a real bearing on our lives – thoughts – words – actions. What effect will they have on you and me to-day?
I will never be able to fathom – to plumb the depths of the intense suffering and incalculable love of our Triune God - - - which gave birth to the priceless 3 WORDS. But I long to be led deeper, don’t you?
God made sanctification to be (2 Corinthians 3:18) progressive because my inheritance (Ephesians 1:11) in Jesus is God’s lifetime investment in me. If I am a wise and obedient steward of my inheritance, every day the Holy Spirit pays out to me the rich dividends of my inheritance. This results (Ephesians 1:4) in the glory of God because my riches in Christ enable me (Ephesians 1:12) to live to the praise of His glory. Why would I ever choose to live as a spiritual pauper? There can be no inheritance unless there has been a death (Hebrews 9:16-17) so Jesus died. God’s lavish investment in us reveals His glorious purpose for us which is (Romans 8:29) to make you and me like Jesus.