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Lesson Four: The Cross
Reading: John 19: 17 -19
There was a custom in the old testament of sacrifices. It is observed in Levitical law and other places in the Bible. We talked before about how the sin in our lives affects us: it makes our hearts hard. Sin also has the effects of death upon us. It binds us to the consequences and downfalls of sin. It is similar to the justice system. If we lived in a perfect world all of the people who did wrong would be punished and all who did right would be rewarded. However, our world is not perfect. Some people are born into, situations where they don’t know that it is wrong to behave like those around them. Children are taught to murder, bad things happen to good people causing them to grow bitter, evil in the world runs rampant, and people make mistakes. We have all at one point in our lives sinned. That’s not to say that it is impossible to live a sinless life- just that requires a little more than ourselves to do so. Regardless of the circumstances, sin has consequences. If you break the law you go on trial and face the consequences. However, God already knows our guilt. God knows our wrongdoings and calls Himself merciful.
The wages of sin is death. According to the law, Hell awaits those who do not abide by the word of God. Still, God is merciful, He will give us as many second chances as we ask in earnest. God doesn’t wish to punish us. It is not His end goal as we have talked about prior. So what did He do? God gave the children of Israel sacrifices. They could have a proxy die in their place. The wages of sin is death. After all, the price still needs to be paid and God is completely just. So the proxy would be a lamb. An innocent lamb without spot or blemish would fill the spot and take their place. They would sacrifice the lamb and their sins would be pushed off until the next sacrifice. They would repeat this year after year. That was God's way of giving His people a chance to change and paying the price for their sins with a life. If this worked for the Israelites then why did their hearts harden? God said he would give them a new heart to purge their wickedness. If they had a sacrifice why did the Israelites keep turning away from God? If this was all they needed then why was it not enough? This is because animals are not people. There is no equivalent for human life except that of another.
The reality of the situation was that God never intended for this to be a permanent fix. Instead, God planned for much more than that. He planned to prepare the perfect sacrifice. One whose blood would cover all sin and push it beneath the sea of forgetfulness. A sacrifice allowing God to finally close the gap between Him and His children, because that’s what sin does. Worse than death, worse than a hardened heart, and worse than the evil it brings: sin separates the creation from the creator. We have an empty hole in us that only our father who made us can fill. We will never be satisfied without Him. We have already established that the sacrifice has to be perfect, spotless, innocent, and without blemish. No one on earth fits that prerequisite. So God decided to do it Himself.
The immaculate conception. We see God who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-present decide to come to earth. This is different from the burning bush. It’s different from the Old Testament mentions of God. This time God decided to put aside all that power and become human. The Bible says He took on the form of a bondservant and wrapped Himself in flesh. The same God of creation is now on earth. He walked among us. If we were alive at the time we could touch Him, follow Him, and speak with Him face to face. This is indicated by the words "The word became flesh and dwelt among us." God decided to come and dwell among us. His name is Jesus. There is only one Godhead. The prophets while doing God’s will were not enough to save His people, and God had promised a mediator to save them. Jesus was God wrapped in flesh. The same God that said I AM the I AM to Moses and the same God that called His people out of Egypt. This is the man Christ Jesus.
Jesus did not come to punish the wicked and cast out the people who were not Hebrew. Instead, Jesus came to do what He always claimed He would. To renew. God created all of us. He loves us to the point to give His own life. God the creator who was and is and is to come. The same God who speaks authority over the vast universe and many wonders of this life. The God who had done nothing wrong. The God who was innocent, spotless, and without blemish, became our sacrifice. We who disobeyed Him, who mocked Him, didn't even believe in His existence, and turned our back on God were the reason that He came to earth and gave His life just for the chance to be with us again. Jesus’s life was the final sacrifice, the lamb, that the world needed.
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Reading: John 19: 17 -19
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”
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God died on that cross, we see His final breath, the wound on His side, and the tomb He was buried in. This wasn’t an accident. The cross was planned but that doesn’t make death any less painful. Jesus could have called angels to take that pain, He was even taunted to do it. He could have gotten off the cross and let us deal with the consequences we earned, but He didn’t. There is no begging for life displayed in the story. No cry for mercy. Only a prayer that if it was possible to spare Himself the pain, that it would be so. There isn’t even a plea of innocence to be seen. Jesus got on that cross out of free will. We see movies where friends take a bullet for each other in the heat of the moment but this is different. God didn't just take a bullet, He gave His life. His blood now covers us. God became the sacrifice no other could. All for the future He wishes to have with us. So that we may seek Him, Jesus paid the ultimate price. There are no more sacrifices, no more lambs, and no more separation. God died but He didn't remain in the grave.
Just like any good father, God will not leave His children alone. Jesus rose from the dead. Three days to bind death and come back to the apostles. God is not defeated by any. Jesus comes back and begins a new era. Sin is not gone from the world but all who obey Jesus are no longer bound by it. He’s given us a new gift after His death, New Birth. Our God has conquered sin and death. The very things that keep His people from Him for so long. He stepped down and became what we needed all for the love of His children.
We cannot live in a world free from our sin. Jesus is the Messiah and we have hope. We were set to die from our sins but God took our place. He died and rose again. Because He lives we don't have to worry about a sacrifice. We don't have to fear for our lives. We can follow after Him knowing that He's paid it all.
We talked earlier about how God wished to give us new hearts. Now that there is no separation how does God wish to do that? How can we change our lives and ourselves to be with God now that things have changed? Jesus gave us this answer in salvation. It’s fondly called the New Birth. This process is what the next three lessons talk about.
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Points for Dissucsion:
Have you ever had a friend who you cared for more than yourself?
What do you think makes Jesus special in the Bible?
Do you want God's salvation?
What do you think it means that Jesus died for us even though He was innocent?
ns 15.158.61.12da2
