The Pain of the Cross
- if you like pain, there’s something wrong with
you
- yet the truth is, nobody will ever experience the sort
of pain Jesus did on that Good Friday so long ago
- as Jesus came closer to the cross, his suffering intensified
- he told his disciples:
- (Matthew 26:38) Then he said to them, "My soul
is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death."
- Jesus was in anguish over his approaching death –
not only the physical pain, but the separation from God, and the pain
of bearing the sins of the world
- I think it’s safe to say that nobody will ever
experience the sort of pain that Jesus did
-
- I’d invite you to consider with me four types
of pain that Jesus experienced at the cross
- these come from Wayne Grudem’s study of the Atonement
in his Systematic Theology
- THE FIRST TYPE OF PAIN JESUS EXPERIENCED WAS PHYSICAL
PAIN AND DEATH
- some people have died pretty awful deaths
- the Bible never claims that the physical death that
Jesus experienced is more painful than what anyone has ever experienced
- but make no mistake: death by crucifixion was one of
the most horrible forms of execution ever devised by man
-
- Mark says curtly:
- (Mark 15:24) And they crucified him.
- if you lived at that time, you would have a pretty
vivid picture of what crucifixion involved
- now we have some idea, but the ugliness of that death
is somewhat lost on us
- death by crucifixion essentially involved slow death
by suffocation
- the criminal being crucified would have his arms outstretched,
and a nail would be driven through the wrist, through median nerve,
the largest nerve going from the hand
- the pain would be worse than that terrible pain felt
when you bang your funny bone – you know how painful that is
- the two feet would be placed together, one on top of
the other, and a nail would be driven through them
- the cross would be raised, and the criminal would have
a choice
- either he could support most of the weight of his body
with his arms, in which case his chest cavity would be pulled upward
and outward, making it difficult to breath
- or, when the criminal finally had to breath, he could
push himself up with his feet, which would be excruciatingly painful,
because it put all his weight on the nails holding the feet, and pulled
upwards on the nails that went through the wrists
- don’t forget that the criminal’s back had
been torn open repeatedly by a previous flogging, and it would scrape
against the cross with every breath
- eventually, amid great pain, the one being crucified
would die of asphyxiation
- you wouldn’t want to die that way!
-
- in some cases, crucified men would survive for several
days, nearly suffocating but not quite
- the English word "excruciating" comes from
"the cross"
- this is the physical pain that Jesus experienced for
you and for me
-
- but this wasn’t the only type of pain that Jesus
experienced
- HE ALSO EXPERIENCED THE PAIN OF BEARING SIN
- how do you feel when you have sinned?
- many of us know the anguish of letting God down
- we feel terrible, even tortured when we carry the weight
of a terrible sin
- even more so when the sin is a significant one
- and this only intensifies as we grow closer to God
-
- remember that Jesus was perfectly holy
- Jesus hated sin with his entire being
- yet, out of obedience to the Father, and out of love
for us, Jesus took upon himself all the sins of those who would one
day be saved
- he took upon himself all the evil against which his
soul rebelled
- every sin of every person who would one day believe
was born on that cross by Jesus
- (Isaiah 53:6) We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of us all.
- (2 Corinthians 5:21) God made him who had no sin to
be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- (1 Peter 2:24) He himself bore our sins in his body
on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his wounds you have been healed.
- as the hymn says:
- He took my sins and my sorrows; He made them his
very own.
- He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died
alone.
-
- I have a friend who is allergic to animal hair
- we were walking through the Canadian National Exhibition’s
farm exhibit when she started to gasp
- we had to get out of that building pretty fast, or
she literally would have died
- her system reacted so strongly to animal hair that
she couldn’t stand to be around animals for even a few minutes
- the reaction that God has to sin is much stronger than
that
- God can’t abide being in the presence of sin
- he hates it!
- and yet Jesus willingly took upon himself our sins
– all of our sins – just so that we could be forgiven by God
-
- not only did Jesus experience physical pain and the
pain of bearing our sins,
- JESUS ALSO EXPERIENCED THE PAIN OF ABANDONMENT
- you know when I really need my friends?
- in times of trouble
- when we are going through difficult times, that is
when we really need our friends
- Jesus was going through his darkest hour, and he cried
out to his closest friends for their support:
- (Mark 14:34) "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow
to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep
watch."
- and they let him down
- his friends deserted him
-
- when he was arrested, do you remember what happened?
- (Matthew 26:56) Then all the disciples deserted him
and fled.
- these are the disciples of whom it is written:
- (John 13:1) It was just before the Passover Feast.
Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go
to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed
them the full extent of his love.
- these disciples, to whom Jesus had revealed his love,
now turned their backs on him and left him
-
- even worse is the abandonment of the Father
- from eternity Jesus had joined uninterrupted fellowship
with the Father
- even on earth, his deepest joy was his fellowship with
the Father
- it was the one unfailing source of inward strength
in and joy in a life filled with sorrow
- when Jesus bore our sins on the cross, he was abandoned
by the Father, who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil"
(Habakkuk 1:13)
- he cried out:
- (Matthew 27:46) About the ninth hour Jesus cried out
in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
- he was abandoned, temporarily, by his own heavenly
Father, for the first time in eternity
- one preacher put it this way: "His body was being
destroyed in the worst possible way, but that was a flea bite compared
to what was happening to his soul."
-
- if a mild acquaintance denounces and rejects you –
so be it
- if a good friend does the same, the hurt is much worse
- but if your spouse walks out on you, that’s even
more devastating
- the longer, deeper, and more intimate the relationship,
the more tortuous the separation
- the Son’s relationship with the Father was eternal
and infinitely greater than the most intimate and passionate human relationship
- when Jesus was cut off from God, it caused pain in
him that none of us can imagine
-
- so Jesus experienced physical pain and death, the pain
of bearing sin, the terrible pain of being abandoned by his friends
and God
- AND JESUS ALSO EXPERIENCED THE PAIN OF THE WRATH
OF GOD
- God is angry with sin
- and when Jesus bore the guilt of our sins upon the
cross alone, "God the Father, the mighty Creator, the Lord of the
universe, poured out on Jesus the fury of his wrath: Jesus became the
object of the intense hatred of sin and vengeance against sin which
God had patiently stored up since the beginning of the world" (Wayne
Grudem)
- Romans 3:25 says:
- (Romans 3:25 NLT) For God sent Jesus to take the punishment
for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made
right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing
his life for us. God was entirely fair when he did not punish those
who sinned in former times.
- it’s a myth that God simply forgot about sin and
the punishment for sin in generations before Jesus
- he had forgiven sins, but stored up his righteous anger,
generation after generation
- at the cross all the fury of this stored-up wrath was
unleashed against Jesus
- the pain would have been immense
-
- the Bible says:
- (Hebrews 10:31) It is a dreadful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.
- Jesus fell into the hands of the living God, in all
his anger
- he became the propitiation for our sins
- propitiation is a word that means "a sacrifice
that turns way the wrath of God, thereby making him favorable toward
us"
- God demanded that sin be paid for
- and Jesus paid for the sin
-
- Wayne Grudem writes:
- To bear the guilt of millions of sins for even a moment
would cause the greatest anguish of soul. To face the deep and furious
wrath of an infinite God for even an instant would cause the most profound
fear. But Jesus’ suffering was not over in a minute – or two
– or ten. When would it end? Could there be yet more weight of
sin? Yet more wrath of God? Hour after hour it went on – the dark
weight of sin and the deep wrath of God poured over Jesus wave after
wave. Jesus at last cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?" Why must this suffering go on so long? Oh God, my God will
you ever bring it to an end?
- this is the payment that Jesus made on our behalf on
the cross
-
- Jesus bore the punishment for us when he died
- you can see that his death involved much more than
physical agony
- he also suffered from the weight of our sins, abandonment,
and the fury of God
-
- now think
- Christ bore all the guilt of our sins
- the bore the full wrath of God against sin, and the
penalty that we deserved
- if you are a believer, your account has been marked
"paid in full"
- as the song says, "Jesus paid it all; all to
him I owe; Sin had left a crimson stain; He washed it white as snow"
-
- think about what made him bear all this suffering
- it was your sins and my sins
- the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that we are all sinners
- (Romans 3:23) for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God,
- heaven saw this sin-problem and its tragic consequences:
- (Romans 6:23) For the wages of sin is death, but the
gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- this is a gift offered to us all
- I read an article by Mart DeHaan that tells us about
this free gift:
- it’s a gift offered to all
- God offers this gift to everyone
- he is no respecter of persons
- he does not defer to wealth or poverty
- he doesn’t favor good looks or plainness
- he doesn’t care if you’re intelligent or
average
- he offers this gift to every person of every nation
and social status
-
- this gift is needed by all
- all of us need this gift, because no one can merit
eternal life
- all of us from birth have been guilty of rebellion
against God
- nobody could come up with a substitute for this gift
-
- this gift cannot be deserved
- there is nothing we can do to earn the mercy, love,
or forgiveness of God
- Paul wrote:
- (Ephesians 2:8) For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
- (Ephesians 2:9) not by works, so that no one can boast.
- no one can earn the gift of salvation
- (Romans 4:5 NLT) But people are declared righteous
because of their faith, not because of their work.
-
- this gift has been paid for
- the gift which we can’t earn has been fully paid
for and is available in our name
- all legal debts can be cancelled as soon as we accept
the offer
- here’s the deal:
- "Christ’s life for our life; his righteousness
for our wrongs; his purchase for our willingness to be bought, released
and adopted into the family of heaven"
-
- this gift must be accepted by faith
- there is only one condition for receiving this gift:
belief
- we must believe that we are sinners; that Jesus Christ
died for our sins; that God wants to give life and forgiveness to all
who will believe that Christ died for their sins
- without faith, we cannot receive this gift
- only those who trust God can know that he is their
only hope for eternity
-
- Jesus suffered the pain of the cross to give us this
gift
- thank God that he loved us enough to do this for us!
- the question for you is clear:
- will you accept this gift?
