As I have been reading John’s account of the Passion Week, there are some verses that hit me hard.
“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.” John 12:27-28 (NLT)
When Jesus said “my soul is deeply troubled,” what was troubling him? These are strong words for Jesus, right? Was he troubled by his disciples and their lack of faith? Was he troubled by his one disciple who was helping himself to the disciple’s money purse and would soon have a big pay-day by selling Jesus? Was he troubled by the religious leaders and their intent to kill him? Was he troubled by the large crowds who had just given him a huge parade into Jerusalem but were mostly in attendance out of curiosity? In fact, John would state in 12:37, “But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.” Or was Jesus troubled by the excruciating pain and death through torture and a crucifixion that he would soon experience?
Our souls would certainly be troubled if we were in such a predicament. But Jesus’ thoughts were on something that you and I cannot comprehend. His thoughts were on a deeper issue… sin. He had lived a sinless life. Even though he was God, the Bible tells us, “This High Priest of ours (Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) So he certainly understood temptation, yet was able to avoid yielding to temptation.
Jesus hated sin. Why? Because it marred his ultimate creation – us! Yet, now, even though he hated sin and he lived a sinless life, he was about to become that very thing – sin. It is too simplistic to say that Jesus took my sins to the cross. A more accurate expression would be that Jesus became my sin on the cross. Literally, it would be as if he personally committed every sin in my life. Now that is a huge list. But add to that list your sins. The list grows even bigger. Add the list of every person in South Carolina. It continues to grow. Add to the list every sin of every person who is currently alive on the planet. As of this morning, that number stood at 6,771,965,469!
But you would also need to add every person who has ever lived beginning with Adam and Eve. I read one estimate that there may have been as many as 106 billion people who have lived on this planet.
But you can not stop there. We must include every person who is going to live… only God knows that number.
So you can see the sins of the world are an astounding list. Our country’s current debt would seem like a few pennies (if that much) compared to the debt of the sin of the world.
And now Jesus was preparing to go to the cross and BECOME our sin. Jesus was going to take personal responsibility of our sins.
So what really happened on the cross? Yes, it was physically painful. Yes, crucifixion is the most vicious form of capital punishment ever devised by man. But something more unimaginable took place on the cross. Jesus faced the wrath of God the Father. Jesus faced separation and loneliness.
Wrath is more than just being mad. It is intense anger and judgment. And Jesus willingly received that intense anger and judgment on the cross.
Because God is holy and his son was now sinful, the father actually turned away from Jesus when he was on the cross. That is why Jesus said, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Matthew 27:46 (NLT)
Abandoned, forsaken, left alone…
As a man, Jesus felt the physical pain. He felt the heartache. He felt the emotions. But as God, Jesus felt the most intense pain of all – being abandoned from his father. In all eternity, such a separation had never occurred. And praise God, it will never occur again. AND God brought glory to his name!!!
So as you can see, though your salvation is free… it was not cheap.
