The Death of Jesus Christ

The cross was deliberately made cruel and gruesome so that any slave considering rebellion would pass by the crucified victim and think to himself, ‘However terrible my life is, rebellion is not worth it.’ But the Christians aren’t ashamed of the cross. In fact, they seem proud of it. Paul says, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Why should this be?

He (Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man (meaning himself) must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three day rise again. (Mark 8:31)

Jesus is saying not only that he will die, but that his death is necessary in some way. Jesus died in order to pay a ransom for many. He died to rescue rebels by paying the price to free them. Suddenly, the thought of celebrating the cross seems less strange. Because although the danger we are in is very real, the cross is our life boat. It is how Jesus rescues people.

And to under stand this fully, we need to read the account of the crucifixion in the Gospel of Mark which tells us three things about the cross: God was angry; Jesus was abandoned; and we can be accepted.

1. God was angry

To God-fearing Jews of the time, darkness in the daytime was a sign of God’s anger. Time and again in the Bible, light represents God’s presence and favour, while darkness tells us that God is acting in judgment.

At the sixth hour (12 noon) darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (3 pm). (Mark 15:33)

Mark tells us that just when the sun should be burning brightest, at midday, darkness suddenly falls, and it lasted for three hours. Something supernatural is occurring, and the clear message is that God is angry. God’s anger is his controlled, personal hostility towards all that is wrong.

A God who is good is right to be angry about sin. Sin matters to God. So every wrong matters to God. And some times we might think: If God existed he’d do something about all this. Actually, he has done something about sin, about every wrong in this world. He did it on the cross.

As Jesus was dying on the cross, the darkness that came over the whole land tells us that God was acting in anger to punish sin.

2. Jesus was abandoned

There is no doubt that Jesus suffered great physical agony on the cross, but Mark 15:34 speaks of spiritual agony:
And at 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?’’

On the cross, Jesus was abandoned by God and experienced what it means to be cut off from God, his loving father, for the first time in all eternity. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Previously, Jesus had addressed God as ‘Father’ or ‘Abba’. But not here. He is experiencing a horrific and terrible separation that he has never known. God is doing something he only ever does by way of punishment.

But Jesus had never rebelled against God. According to those who knew him, Jesus lived a sinless life. He had done nothing that deserved punishment. So why was he being punished? The answer is that he was being punished for our sin.

At this moment Jesus was experiencing God’s punishment. And it was our sin that made him feel separated from God. In those agonizing moments, Jesus was taking upon himself all the punishment that our sin deserves. The Bible tells us again and again that our rebellion against God deserves punishment, and punishment is exactly what Jesus endured on our behalf.

As Jesus died on the cross, he willingly died for me, as my substitute, in my place, taking the punishment I deserve. Jesus paid the price for sin so that we never have to.

3. We can be accepted

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.

The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. (Mark 15:37,38)

As soon as Jesus dies, we are transported to the interior of Jerusalem’s huge temple. We see an incredible thing. The temple curtain is 30 feet high and as thick as the span of a man’s hand. It is made from a single piece of material. Suddenly we here a thunderous ripping sound and the curtain fall to the ground in two pieces.

The curtain was actually a terrifying barrier to the ‘Holy of Holies,’ the heart of the temple where God was said to live. So holy was this place that only the High Priest could enter it once a year. Not just any person, and not even any priest, but only the High Priest, once he had performed an elaborate series of sacrifices, and ten only once a year. The whole system was designed to show that it was not an easy thing to come into the presence of God. It very clearly said that it is impossible for sinful people like you and me to walk into God’s presence.

Then suddenly, as Jesus dies, this curtain is ripped in two by God, from top to bottom. God is saying that the way is now open for us to enter his presence. The barriers are now down, and there is nothing to prevent us from enjoying a relationship with him.

How is this made possible? Because Jesus was willing to be abandoned. He has taken God’s anger on our behalf so that we can be accepted.

As God’s anger burns against the sin that Jesus took upon himself at the cross, it burns once and for all. Once the judgment fall, it can not fall again. We can be accepted by God because the punishment we deserve has fallen – once and for all – on Jesus. So we are saved from God’s anger because of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By Ronald Vinay Kumar