Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
Today many live in a darkened world, leading lives of fear, confusion, discontentment, and despair. Searching for meaning and significance in all the wrong places. Occupying themselves with busy days. Losing sleep over things that matter little. Losing time over things that matter most.
Are your emotions bouncing off the wall? Are all the sounds distracting you? Is the hurried pace isolating you from others? Are you visually exhausted? Close your eyes. Jesus is alive. The resurrected Lord is here. Listen to His voice.
Why would a man who claimed to be God’s Son remain silent before human authorities? How could one who resisted the temptations of Satan submit to the torment of soldiers? How could a man speak with such power and now refuse to register a defense? Why would a man who walked on water march to His death without a fight? How could a man who raised the dead…die?
Today, for all who trust in the work of Christ to bring them into a personal relationship with God, that same power exists. Have you trusted in Jesus as the one who made the way to God?
Mission accomplished? Only the Father and His willing Son saw beyond what looked like a miserable ending. That day Jesus took on His most important work. On the cross, He took our sins and paid our penalty. Then He cried out one word, “Tetelestai,” which means “paid in full,” and died. Mission accomplished!
Jesus’ question to the Father was a deep cry of His unfathomable love for us. Even when He felt forsaken by the Father, even when He didn’t know how much longer He could hold on, even when the pain was unimaginable, Jesus never gave up. He never gave in. Jesus paid for sin in its deepest and fullest penalty for you and me.
The resurrected Lord brings His cross-work to meet you wherever you are. Rich…and empty. Poor…and needy. Successful…and searching. Fallen…and struggling to get up. Jesus meets you where you are and carries you all the way to eternity.
The work of Jesus on the cross was applied to this condemned man. All his sin was laid on Jesus, and he passed from death to life. Such is the power of grace. Such is the fullness of forgiveness.
Too many people use the guilt and shame of sin as a barrier between themselves and God. Many believe they must clean up their acts before God will accept them. The problem with that thinking is this: no one can clean up their life on their own. Only Jesus can do that. Lay your sin—the sin He died for—before Him and let His forgiveness wash over your heart.
Exhausted by the beatings and floggings of the day, Jesus collapsed under the load. A man from Cyrene was forced to carry the cross for Jesus. Little did Simon of Cyrene know that the cross was actually for his sins…and yours and mine. Simon carried the cross to Golgotha, then laid it down for the Savior to become our sacrifice.
The Almighty took on flesh and made His dwelling among us. His existence was for this painful purpose. Sin had separated man from God. Death was sin’s penalty. Jesus, fully God and fully man, took on death for us. The Sinless One died for sinful man. The penalty of sin was paid for in full at the cross. He sacrificed Himself for you.
What an amazing scenario! The people chose to have a dangerous man back on the streets rather than have Jesus live. The innocent would die. The guilty went free. The same applies today. The spotless Lamb of God bore our sin in His body on the cross. He died in our place so we could be free forever.