16-04-2006, 05:09 PM
Heavenly tears darken the earth
Midday Friday on Calvary, and the sun was supposed to shine, but something strange happened. Darkness fell − it was eerie. It was as if a dark blanket was pulled over the earth. The sun disappeared. Something was very wrong. How could the sun simply switch off, and that in the middle of the day?
It could only have been the tears of God that had caused darkness to fall that Friday afternoon. It was his grief about the terrible price his Son had to pay! The heavens mourned. It was as if the sun had no cause to shine when the Su(o)n of Righteousness was dying on the cursed cross.
Alone!
Shortly before three o'clock that afternoon, the darkness intensified in the temple of Jerusalem. The curtain dividing the most sacred part and the sacred part of the temple tore in two. At that moment, the temple in Jerusalem was replaced by a Living Temple. That was the end of Jerusalem's role as God's headquarters on earth. All of a sudden the temple belonged to history.
Shortly afterwards Jesus called out in Aramaic: "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Wasn't it terrible that God, Who was grieving over his Child, could turn his back on Him then? Jesus was completely alone, and death took Him. Why? Well, Paul answers that in Galatians 3:13 when he writes that God curses all who hang on a cross.
Yes, God did mourn the death of his Son together with the rest of his creation, but at the same time He was ashamed of Jesus being in the most contemptuous place on earth. He turned away horrified when the shoulders of Jesus sagged under the weight of all our sins. We did that to Him. It was because of us that Jesus had to walk the road of a scorned criminal to the end. It was all our fault.
The cross simply had to happen
Jesus spoke for the last time on the cross. He cried out aloud that He was dying. Luke 23 tells us that in his dying moments Jesus used the words of prayer a Jewish child would use every night before bedtime: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit". And then Jesus died. In the arms of God! Yes, the Father was there to catch his lifeless Child when He entered the valley of death.
The Roman officer doing duty at the cross, cried out: "Surely this was a righteous man". Indeed! Jesus was the Messiah of God and still is. He is the One Who lives eternally, because He defeated death and was resurrected.
The cross had to happen. There was no other way. Someone always has to pay for sin. Actually, God should hold you and me accountable every time we do not obey his commands. We should take the beating we deserve. But Jesus intervened. He came to act as the buffer between God and ourselves, the lightning conductor Who absorbed the full force of God's punishment. There could have been no other way ... except ... except if you and I absorbed the lightning ourselves. We would have had to stand before God with the one or two good deeds we had performed and with a heavy suitcase filled with sin. However, that would not have been an option to consider because no one on earth can ever live the kind of life that is good enough to get God's attention and to soften his judgement. That is why Jesus' death on the cross was so necessary.
Enough is enough!
The blood flowed on Golgotha! But it was also the place where God said that enough was enough! The death of Jesus has paid off the overdrawn accounts of everyone who finds shelter with Him. His offer of payment on our behalf was fully accepted by God. It is unnecessary for us to add anything. We have been redeemed by the death of Jesus. Yes, and He was resurrected. The bells of Easter toll because the tomb is empty and the cross is bare!
Prayer
I hear the bells of Easter toll the message
that the cross is deserted.
I sing about the tomb that is empty.
I shout joyfully that the full price has been paid.
Lord Jesus, You have won,
You are the Lord.
You sit at the right hand of the Father, invested with power and glory!
Please accept the praises of your church.
We glorify You as the Lord of the cross and the empty tomb.
We honour You as the One with all the power in heaven and on earth.
Amen
God bless
Stephan Joubert