Have you ever done that, have you ever just looked at the cross? Not the actual cross obviously, and not even a physical representation of it, but what Christ went through on the cross and carrying it? How about the words he spoke, and the suffering he endured? When I do I always find myself crying, and always I think the same thing, 'he loved me, and died for me, because of me!' God gave His only son to a life of persecution, suffering, and eventually a brutal death, because we cannot resist the flesh, generation after generation has failed and given themselves over to the desires of this world and the gods it promotes.
Today when I was looking at the cross I realized something I had never thought about before, when Jesus called from the cross (Matthew 27:46) “Eli, Eli, lemasabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” it was my fault and yours too. That was the moment Christ was separated from the Father for the first time ever, and it was our sins that did that, it was our sin covering him that separated him from the Father and made God turn away from that suffering. Think about that for a moment please, let that settle into your heart, think of what it must have felt like to have lived from the beginning of time in the Lord's presence, that perfect beautiful place, filled with love, peace, and harmony. Imagine growing up here on this earth, after leaving that place and still having the Father's presence in your life, and then going out and doing his work at the appointed time. Then after that you are beaten almost to the point of death, made to carry a heavy cross, nailed to it, your suffering reaches it's worst as others' pains and sufferings, their sins, are added onto your physical suffering, and then you are cut off. That presence of the Father is gone because of something you didn't do.
We did that, by our continual rejection of the love God so much desires to give us. We cannot buy our way into heaven, or work our way there, there is nothing we can do to make ourselves worthy, we are too weak and eventually we sin, we all do, pick anyone in the Bible except Christ and they have sinned. But God loves us and made a way, He sacrificed His son, He took all our sin and placed it on Christ. Spotless, and blameless Jesus took sin that was not his own; this sin separated him from the Father, a fate he did not deserve, so that we can have access to the Father from the pure and holy blood of the lamb that he shed, Isaiah 53:4-6 reads "4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
'By his wounds we were healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.' I repeated that intentionally, I want you to realize that when Jesus calls out "My God, My God why have you forsaken me," just why that is, it was our iniquity! Jesus paid the price of our destructive ways, he paid the price so we wouldn't have to. He was cut off from the Father, sent into death, into hell by our sins, and then he conquered it, and by conquering death he gave us access to eternal life, the only way to eternal life.
Isaiah 53:10-12
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 11 After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
John 3:10-21
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
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