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Celebration after the Cross

This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24 NASB)

What greater day could there be in all of humanity than the day the Lord defeated all our enemies, and the last of them…death. May this day mark anew the celebration that Jesus wanted and seeks to give to you.

The cross is the place of victory over our sin.  We have much to be thankful for to Jesus because of His death on the cross.

 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossian 2:13-14 NASB)

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”–(Galatians 3:13 NASB)

But the cross is not the final place of celebration for the Christian.  For all that He accomplished there is reflected in His final words regarding our sin, His mission and His work…

When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. (John 19:30 NASB)

It is the emptiness of tomb where the greatest of celebrations takes place for there Jesus defeated our last and most dreaded enemy… 

  “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” (1 Corinthians 15:55 NASB)

  And the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.” He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see … (Matthew 28:5-6 NASB) 

And now we can have that victory in life. 

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans6:8-11 NASB)

May Easter’s celebration be your life’s possession.  No matter your defeats, no matter your personal victories, no matter your blessings, no matter you depravations…remember because of the victorious risen Lord Jesus Christ…

This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Concession after the Cross

And on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

(Luke 23:56b NASB)

Death had won again. It’s hard to concede defeat, even harder if it has been suffered by the death of your hope.  Jesus had become the earthly hope of a lot of people, and when He was crucified and died on the cross, earth bound hope just folded. That’s the tragic disappointment of not having the right belief in Jesus even today. He was not sent here as an earthly life enhancing manager.

It’s Saturday the Sabbath Day, the day of rest. Folks were by Mosaic Law, to be resting in adherence of the Third Commandment, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8 NASB)  Many may have been resting physically perhaps, but today, not emotionally.  Minds were racing trying to catch up with the events of the day before. Even the Pharisees were still worried after His death. Scriptures only mention of Saturday is the meeting that took place between the Pharisees and Pilate. They are asking that a guard be placed at the tomb of Jesus to keep overzealous followers of Him from pulling some kind of shenanigans to falsely validate His previous ridiculous boast that He would rise again on the third day.

It’s quiet in Jerusalem. We have to assume that there are homes of people quietly mourning the death of Jesus. There are people with a lot of questions going through their minds; questions that don’t seem to have any answers today.

How could someone who was so kind to so many, even to one of those arresting Him be so cruelly treated and murdered on a cross?

How could that twelve year old boy who knew so much of Scripture in the temple with the elders, be so repulsed by them as a 30+ year old? What or who changed?

How could someone promise to be our king one day the next and be dead?

How could one who claimed to be our Savior, our Messiah be such if He Himself was killed by Roman soldiers?

How come this one who called us to, “Come follow Me”, expect us to follow after a dead man? Where’s the sense in that?

How could a man who had the power to raise people like Lazarus from the dead allow Himself to enter death? Where’s the consistency?

How could a man promise another dying man, “Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in paradise.”?  Was He just trying to comfort that thief in his pain or was it a cruel joke or something else?

How are we going to be able to prepare an already decomposing body for proper burial so long after death?

The answers to these questions and more would have to wait for another day which was not far away. The questions would be lost in His glory. Sort of like our earthly questions we have planned for heaven will, I suspect, be lost in His glory.  This Saturday was a day of grief. Rest would not be a good word to describe Jerusalem.

The world is an unhappy place to be without a living Jesus in it, so too human life. Life without a living Jesus isn’t life at all.  It’s just an existence, often filled with grief, missing meaning, empty of purpose, and filled with questions.  Our hearts when apart from Christ feel this at times.  We don’t know what it is, but we just know life seems dead and meaningless. We wish we could do something about it. We don’t have to – God already has.

Tomorrow literally will be a better day, it couldn’t get any worse than this…Jesus is gone.

Our Curse On the Cross 

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us– for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”– in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.  (Galatians 3:13-14 NASB)

There are three key elements to this passage we need to appreciate in order to  grasp what took place on Good Friday and what makes it so good for us. 

Christ – Curse – Cancelled

Christ. Glory to His name that the name Christ has been written here. It is not your name, my name, or the name of any organization or authority. Just the fact that is says Christ should evoke a sense of expectation, confidence and assurance to read on. Christ means Messiah which is more than a name, it is His title describing the work for which He came to do. We would yet be a pitiful humanity if anything else were to be substituted for the name Christ. Sadly, some still have their own name and work there as the means of establishing a relationship with God.

Curse. Christ’s name is at the beginning of this verse but each of our names is written under this curse. Prior to the cross of Calvary we were under a curse.  This is not a curse cast upon humanity as from some dark element in a Harry Potter novel.  This is the curse of the Law…this is serious business. It describes our relationship with God and what stands in the way. The Lord is the Law Giver. This curse is powerful and all encompassing.  No one is exempt from it, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one can escape it for the wages of sin is death. No one should entertain to satisfy it because without faith it is impossible to please God. Even those who deny the Law Giver’s existence and those ignorant of this curse are under its shadow.  It hangs over humanity with its full force at death.  This curse is horrible.  So horrible that it would crush Jesus Christ.

Cancelled. Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse.  This is why He did sweat drops as of blood in Gethsemane’s Garden. This is the bitter cup for which He prayed removal of if there could be any other way. To be redeemed is to be purchased back. Jesus would buy us back from the curse on the cross. The purchase price He agreed upon to pay was Himself. He set us free from the curse by becoming a curse for us.  Meditate on this for a moment this Good Friday. Notice this is written in the past tense. It has happened already. Notice too He did not merely take our curse to the cross; indeed Jesus became our curse. This is a substitutionary work that has taken place. Paul refers back to Deuteronomy 21:23, to show to all that Jesus actually became a curse for us who are Gentiles, as well as for the Jew. We are all now covered, not by the curse, but by the blood of Christ. Jesus is over us.

Oh dear unbelieving reader or you who cower under the guilt of your sin, this is Good Friday: the day your curse was cancelled.  Jesus took it. Instead, we get the promise of the Holy Spirit to abide with in when we believe in Jesus.

Compassion on the Cross

And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!”  But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?  “And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”  And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43 NASB)

Sinning which should never be trivialized is not the greatest tragedy to occur in a person’s life. No, the real tragedy happens when someone does not accept by faith what God has done about our sin. Many people are living that way and tragically too many will die that way.  That’s a tragedy.

We return to Calvary this Maundy Thursday to look at the two other men who are crucified on either side of Jesus.  Through them, the Lord teaches us the differences of living and dying so close to the Lord’s compassion. Even though Jesus paid the price for the sins of all, still people will die and enter into a Christ-less eternity. They wanted Christ to leave them alone on earth – it will be granted to them in eternity.

One thief believed the Lord’s compassion to be a human right, thinking that God owed it to him to be merciful.  This thief had no interest in the salvation of his soul. He only wanted to be saved from the consequences of his sin. He didn’t want to die, but his mind wasn’t set on eternity either.  The thing he truly regretted was getting caught.  Many folk are like this, mistaking this as repentance when it is not.  They also think themselves to be Christians. They are not because they have not been converted. They foolishly also think that they can escape sin’s final consequences. They can no more escape them than the two thieves could escape the crosses upon which they hung.  Even if they could, their guilt remained.

The other thief is different. What’s the difference?  Repentance.

The second thief is a repentant sinner.  He knows he too is going to die.  He’s more concerned about what will come after his death than the dying itself.  He confesses his sin and readily admits that what is happening to him is just.  His heart is contrite. He looks over at Christ and what does he see?  He sees the Gospel hanging there beside him. He sees hope hanging on a beam. A repentant heart sees hope in Jesus and places its trust in Him. His final request was not to be freed from his cross, but to be remembered sometime in the future.

He looks to Jesus and what does he hear?  He didn’t hear accusations, or blame, or condemnation, or vengeance. He hears the voice of compassion and the Good News of Calvary’s Servant. Every heart hears this that turns to Him (John 6:37). He didn’t hear about some future hope.  He heard the word, “today”. For a man who lived right up to the end of his life in sin, he heard the ever compassionate heart of God, “today you shall be with Me in paradise.”  Now that’s compassion.

Remember friend that Jesus gives us back our “today”. Eternal life is not a future hope; it is something we have in Christ “today”. It is fully realized in the tomorrow of our lives, but its promise and possession is for “today”. We press on in joyful hope because of what we own “today”. We move forward in assurance because our confidence is in His compassion.  Because of Christ we of the faith own “today”.

The tragedy of this thief’s live is that he lived it apart from the blessedness of intimate fellowship with Jesus as his Rock and Helper. Yet he became a man of the assured hope, even if but for his few moments left here on earth.  His last earthly day would be his best.

Dear reader, this man is waiting to see you in heaven. He was brought there by Jesus, and so will you who believe and receive God’s compassion in Christ…“today”.