Why a Cross?

 

There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.

- Matthew 27:34 -

Why was Jesus crucified on a cross?  We know he was offered as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of every soul, but he could have been sacrificed in a countless number of ways.  He could have been beheaded, His throat slit, hung by a rope, dismembered, poisoned... Cain's lust for another's blood has never run dry since that travesty when he killed his brother.  Indeed, it has only grown more creative over the millennia.

To understand this, we need to go to Psalm 22.  This was a prophesy of the method of execution of the Messiah to come.  It also includes a prophesy of the resurrection and Lordship, but that is not the focus here.

In Psalm 22, David is ostensibly experiencing the Messiah's execution through His eyes, flesh and soul.  In this passage, the Messiah 

• cries out to God, asking why He has forsaken Him.
• is surrounded by others who despise Him.
• is mocked.
• is counted as a criminal.
• is pierced in the hands an feet.
• is stared and gloated at.
• has His clothing gambled over.
• To quote aboutbibleprophecy.com, "There are other descriptions in Psalm 22 that sound like an accurate description of what would happen to the Messiah being crucified, such as the disjointing of bones, the drying up of a person's strength, an intense sense of thirst, a heart melting like wax (Jesus was stabbed in the side with a spear during his crucifixion), and being 'poured out' of one's body. When Jesus was stabbed, blood and water poured out from the wound."

Of particularly impactful note, this Psalm predates this method of execution by about 600 years; that particular art of torment had not been invented yet.

The Son of Man's intent, even from birth I would submit, was to not only be sacrificed for Man. But it was also to show us that it had been His intent from the fall or even the creation of Man.  And finally, He determined that He was to pour His heart and soul into this by refusing to be anaesthetized of the agony of His entire being.

Such is not only the depths of His love for us, but also His passion for us.

Behold the manner of His love! (1 John 3:1)

 

So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

- Matthew 27:17,21 -

Pilate and the chief priests had no clue what was transpiring.  But Matthew is giving us the the privilege to understand a glimpse of it by revealing it in this passage.  Jesus Barabbas means "the Lord saves the son of a father".  Who is the father of humanity?  Biblically, that would be Adam.

Jesus ostensibly took Barabbas' place.  What was the occasion of this substitution?  It was Pilate's custom to release a prisoner on the feast of Passover leading into the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  I submit that it was a diplomatic gesture to the Israelites in commemoration of the time when God set the prisoners free from their captivity in Egypt.

But there's a deeper understanding. Barabbas was guilty of murder and insurrection (Mark 15:7).  He was captive, but he was also guilty - even guilty of murder.  Jesus, the Son of the Father had become the One who would set the son of the father [Adam] free!  

In the oblivious actions of others, Jesus was quietly declaring His impending intent to set the captives free (Isaiah 61:1).  Matthew highlighted it for us so the reader would understand that He was setting the guilty prisoner free by taking on Himself the punishment that was due us.  And what is at the center of the implementing this plan?  It was blood.  The innocent blood of the Passover Lamb would soon set the guilty captive free, and that Blood was about to be upon "all the people" and on their children.

Jesus is a Four-Dimensional Chess Master, who orchestrates events and sets people in place at just the right time to carry out and reveal His loving and just intentions.  

We must not ever underestimate His wondrous sovereignty!

Godly Sorrow, Hearts of Stone, and Guilt unto Death

 

Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

“I have sinned,” [Judas] said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” 

The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 

- Matthew 26:75 - 27:6 -

In the middle of all the chaos, Jesus stayed the course of His ultimate destiny to save humanity from themselves.  But with all this, it is important to notice the attitudes of those whom His life had already touched.

Peter had sworn to stand and defend Jesus.  He had emphatically declared this in the context of brotherhood and the shelter of the Son's presence.  But Jesus knew the deceitful intentions, be they good or bad, of an unredeemed heart.  And when the rooster crowed, He had remembered that Jesus called it right, and it cut Peter to the core of his soul.  His soul was in bitter agony with sorrow.

For whatever reason, Judas had betrayed Jesus into the hands of those who wanted Him dead.  Once he realized what he had done, he was overcome by guilt.  His own sense of guilt compelled him to suicide.  Maybe the burden of guilt brought him to reckless depression.  Maybe it brought him to unbridled panic.  Nevertheless, he went straight to a fatal place of self condemnation. 

The religious elite, pious in their self righteousness, refused to own up to their own wickedness.  Pride had hardened their hearts, even as Pharaoh had done after having released the Israelites from Egypt.  They knew what they were doing, recognized it as evil, yet had set their faces as flint and continued in their nefarious intent.

These are merely three ways the human soul will react to sin, but Jesus paid for our base nature nevertheless.  The good news is the believer knows the other side of the cross!  How we react to our sin in the face of who He is and what He's done is critical as we walk out this relationship with Him, as we work out our salvation this side of eternity.

What Price Freedom?

"The silver trump of freedom had roused my soul to eternal wakefulness.  Freedom had now appeared, to disappear no more forever.  It was hear in every sound, seen in every thing.  It was ever present to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition.  I saw nothing without seeing it, I heard nothing without seeing it, and felt nothing without feeling it.  It looked from every star, it smiled in every calm, breathed in every wind, and moved in every storm."

- Frederick Douglass, The Autobiography of Frederick Douglass -

Freedom is a strange and beautiful thing.  Unless the soul knows what it's like to exist without it, it cannot be desired.  Many have lived without it, and yet have never hungered for it.  Many have lived with it, but have never cherished it.  All souls need the most ultimate form of it.

Few will reach out for it.

The United States of America has set up a framework by which all have the liberty to pursue it.  It has taken a couple hundred years for the framework to be extended to all, from a governmental standpoint.  Nevertheless, I firmly believe that we are there.

And yet the human souls within this land do not take advantage of this framework and continue to submit themselves to slavery.  The slavery to their own flesh.  The whimsical compulsions of another's manipulations.  The whimsical compulsions of others' thoughts.

Listen to the voice of the One Who formed you in your mother's womb!  In this listening you will find the desire and embracing of your true freedom.