On the cross, Jesus Christ willingly carried the massive, heavy weight of humanities sin
and bore its penalty for us. It was Christ Himself who took our sin upon himself by bearing it in
His own body on the cross of Calvary. Nothing in the heavens or on earth forced Jesus to take
God’s wrath upon Himself for you and me. Nothing about you and me should have given Him
the idea that we were worthy of such love and sacrifice. Yet, while we were sinners, while we
were separated from the love of God, while we were enemies of God, while we were lost without any hope, while we were dead in our trespasses and sin, Christ gave His life a ransom for many.
That is what Jesus did for us on Calvary. Because of the exceeding sinfulness of
mankind, God’s wrath and His justice had to be satisfied. For the wages of sin is death said one writer. God’s judgement demanded satisfaction. Since we were unable to make amends for our wrongs, Jesus became our substitute; He died a substitutionary death for us. He wrapped Himself in human flesh and became sinful flesh for you and me. This enabled us to escape God’s wrath and the penalty of our sin. How could God’s justice be satisfied, and His love be maximized at the same time?
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
There is a story of a great tribal leader known for his fairness and wisdom. One day it
was reported that someone in the tribe was stealing. The leader proclaimed that the thief, when caught, would receive ten lashes. Still the stealing continued, even as the punishment was steadily increased eventually to forty lashes. The tribal leader knew that only a strong man, like himself, could survive such a severe beating. Finally, the thief was caught and to everyone’s surprise, she was the leader’s own elderly mother. Everyone speculated about what the leader would do. One of the tribal laws required children to love their parents, yet another law demanded public beatings for thieves. Would the tribal leader satisfy his love and save his mom, or would he satisfy his law and watch his mom die under the whip? Finally, the tribe gathered in the public square. They watched as the frail old lady was tied to the whipping post and the hulking whip master awaited the command to begin the punishment. Suddenly, the tribal leader held up his hand to stop the procedure. A sigh of relief was heard in the crowd. The leader’s love would be satisfied, but what about his law? The tribal leader walked toward his mom, removing his own shirt, he wrapped his arms around his mom, exposing his back to the whip master. He then said, proceed with the punishment.
“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
That little story illustrates exactly what Jesus did for us on Calvary. For God’s justice to
be satisfied, a sacrifice had to be made. For God’s love and grace to be displayed in offering
salvation to you and me, a sacrifice had to be made. God’s justice and His love had to meet at a designated point to accomplish the eternal transaction for salvation; Jesus became a willing
sacrifice. Because of the greatness of our sin, Jesus had to not only die, but He had to suffer. He had to be gracefully broken for our redemption. Jesus suffered not just death on a cross – His death was the most excruciating, embarrassing, degrading, painful, and cruel deaths for our justification. He had to be bruised, battered beyond recognition. Christ had to die for sinners because that was the only way sinful men and women could be saved. There was no other way to deliver us, since the wages of sin is death. God’s wrath had to be satisfied and that required a sacrifice. For Christ to help sinful people that were destined for God’s judgement; for Christ to help sinful people who were by nature the children of wrath destined for destruction meant that He would have to be gracefully broken in our place and pay the penalty for your sin and mine so that He might lead us out of darkness into eternal life. Thank you, Jesus!
