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The scene: A crucifixion.
The Place:
Golgotha.
The Cross—a symbol of pain,
suffering and death.
A horrible death. As the
victims hung there attempting
to breathe, the pain was
horrific to push up with their
feet to fill their lungs with a little air. To hasten
their deaths, soldiers were ordered
to break the legs of the
suffering men, not to alleviate
their suffering, but to hasten
their deaths before the
Sabbath set in.
With broken legs, it would have been impossible to push
upward to gain a little more air
to breathe.
Suffocation soon followed and
death ensued.
They came too late to “hasten
the death” of Jesus. Man has
been trying since the beginning of time to program God to
meet his schedule, but it
doesn’t change God’s timetable
one millisecond. Jesus had
achieved His mission and already
declared it “finished” when the
soldiers came to His cross.
“It is finished” did not refer to his earthly life but to the
mission He had come to earth to
fulfill. Our salvation
had been procured and secured.
The debt was paid that
we owed but could not pay. The
penalty of the broken
covenant had been satisfied; and
we were justified,
innocent and free from the debt that sin
had charged us with.
Broken hearts only saw the
battered dead body of their
Son, Friend and Teacher. Some
had left everything and
followed Him with great
expectations. Their visions of
the
long-awaited Jewish savior who would deliver them from
the heavy hand of the oppressive
Roman government died
on the cross. They must have
felt that the three years they
had devoted to being Jesus’
disciples were all for naught.
They were fearful and went
into hiding lest they too
have the same fate. What now? Back to fishing?
Back to collecting taxes? What
was left but back to
everyday life, with dreams and
spirits crushed?
These sad friends and followers
of Jesus could not know
what was happening in the Spirit
world! What appeared to
be doom and gloom was in fact
bringing light and life as Jesus
finished His work and took the
keys of death, hell and the
grave from the defeated being
who had stolen them, Satan.
The gleeful celebration in hell
was interrupted by the invasion
of the Savior as He freed the
death cells and brought eternal
hope of life. Victory had been
declared even as the hordes
of hell thought they had put out
His Light! Now blinded by
that Light, their doom was
pronounced as the King of kings
and Lord of lords triumphed over all the power of
evil and the sting of death!
The New Covenant had been
ratified at
Calvary. Never
again would the old covenant suffice as it killed an innocent
animal vicariously for the sins of man. On the cross, an
innocent Lamb had been slain,
His blood sprinkled on Heaven’s
altar for the sins of the
world. The vicarious sacrifice
of God’s innocent Lamb was
totally satisfactory to atone
for the sins
of mankind. The blood will
never evaporate nor loose its
potency; its atoning power ever
present.
Jesus could have just gone on
back to Heaven after
completing His mission on earth
and sat down at the right
hand of the Father. He had foretold His death and
resurrection while still living
as man. He had taught
His followers what to expect.
But He didn’t leave them
until He had given them the
impetus to carry out His
commission. After the
resurrection, He came to them
and gave them irrefutable proof
of what He had told them
would take place. He showed
Himself in His glorious
resurrected body to the women
who came to the tomb
to mourn His death, to His
disciples huddled in fear
and others who would carry the
New Covenant message
to the world. He gave them
first-hand revelation that He
was alive and would be going back to His Father as
their intercessor, and the
person of Holy Ghost would
soon be descending in their midst to enable them to
carry His New Covenant message
to the world.
Do you know about the atoning
sacrifice Jesus Christ made
for you? Are you aware of the incomprehensible love that
He had to allow the cruelty of
the cross to take His life--
all for you? He could have
stopped it by calling rescuing
angels who could have brought
instant death or endless torture
to His killers. Can you imagine the terrible suffering He
endured in His body—for you?
Can you even begin to
fathom the horrible black abyss
Jesus entered as God
withdrew from the Suffering Son’s presence as He paid
the price you incurred for your
sin? Does that bring a
catch to your throat, a sharp
pain to your heart, a
godly sorrow for your sin?
That’s good! It should!
Sorrow for sin is a good
symptom! It means you are ready
to accept what Jesus did for you
on the cross. It means
you are ready to accept the empty tomb as proof that He
lives and gives life to you that will never end! It means you
are ready to come into the New
Covenant that Jesus has cut
in your behalf. Now you can be free from the dominion of
sin, a new creation filled with the life of Christ and ready
for His return to take you back
to the wondrous place
He has prepared for you!
“He is not here, for He is
risen, as He said, Come, see
the place where the Lord lay.”
(Matthew 28:6)
(For more on the New Covenant,
please see Bible Studies
– “The New Covenant Ratified.”)
Delores Adams
Copyrighted. All rights
reserved.
March 8, 2004
Alice's Legacy
Remembering Alice
The
"Handkerchief" has been anointed
and prayed over by
several believers who care about
you and want to help
you realize your full potential
in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
~The
Ten Commandments~
New
Covenant Bible Study
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