Even the Death of the Cross

Lesson

Imagine what it would feel like if you were chained to the bottom of a pool as it slowly filled with water. The water rises inch by inch. It finally reaches your neck. You scream for help, but nobody hears your cry. As it comes to your mouth you begin to breathe through your nose. You take one last valiant breath. You go under -- and wait.

Our previous lessons on judgment clearly revealed that the wages of sin is death. Stop here and think about that for a minute -- no heaven, no everlasting life, no forever with God.

Earth’s next judgment is soon to befall its inhabitants. Jesus is about to return. Is there a way provided for sinful man to pass safely through this judgment?

The water is rising inch by inch. Is there someone to pull us out?

1. What was our condition when Jesus died for us? Romans 5:8

______loved by God and sinners________

God loved this world (you) so much that He took the initiative of giving His Son. (John 3:16)

Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.

He did not wait for us to act first. He made the first advance.

Think back some 2000 years ago to a slightly raised hill called Calvary. Suspended between heaven and earth are two thieves and a man whose face reveals innocence. His piercing eyes deny and logical reason for Him being there. His name is Jesus. And He’s there in your place.

As we look at the cross of Christ, we will be amazed to discover the self-emptying love of Jesus. We will see what He was willing to give up in order to save humanity. To the Romans, crucifixion was the most extreme physical torture someone could experience without immediately dying. Yet the Jews saw crucifixion as something infinitely worse than physical suffering. It involved severe mental anguish. In this study we are going to look at Calvary through “Jewish eyes.” May this truth impact you as it did the disciples and the early Christian church.

2. It took three to seven days for someone to die on a cross. It took Christ only a few hours. What was Pilate’s response to the fact that Christ had died so soon? John 19:32,33;Mark 15:44

_____________Pilate marvelled__________________

You will notice that the other thieves that were crucified with Jesus were still alive after He died. Christ died in only a few hours, when it should have taken days. Pilate was shocked that Jesus had died so soon. Christ was not killed by the physical suffering of the cross. The agony Jesus experienced on the cross far exceeded the nails in His hands and feet. Let’s explore the cause of Jesus’ rapid death.

3. If we are going to understand the agony Jesus felt on the cross we must begin the night before -- in the garden of Gethsemane. Read the following experience of Jesus in the garden.

Matthew 26:36to44

a. How many times did Jesus go to His Father in prayer? v.36,42,44

__________________three times_____________________

b. What type of sorrow was Jesus experiencing during this intense struggle? v. 38

________________exceedingly sorrowful_____________________

The term “exceedingly” is defined as something which is extreme, to go beyond any limitations. Christ’s sorrow was beyond measure.

c. What was Jesus at the point of ? v.38

______________even unto death________________________

d. What physical effect did His mental agony have upon His body? Luke 22:44

___being in an agony he prayed more earnestly_and his sweat was as ... drops of blood___

Modern science gives us insight. Anxiety and stress can become so extreme that the capillaries in the forehead will burst, and blood will be excreted in the sweat. This has been known to happen, but only in rare, extreme cases.

4. Notice that the crime of which the Jews accused Jesus was blasphemy (John 19:5to7; 10:36)According to the law of Moses against blasphemy what method of death should they have asked for? Leviticus 24:16

______________stone him to death_________________

In John 10:30,31 Jesus is accused of blasphemy and the Jews take up stones “again.”

They understood that stoning was to be the method of death for blasphemy.

Why then did the Jewish leaders demand that Christ be crucified?

5. To the Jews, hanging on a cross was synonymous with hanging on a tree. (see Acts 5:30;

10:39; 13:29) What were they demanding from God by crucifying Jesus? . Deuteronomy 21:22,23

__________accursed of God ______________

When the Jews cried out, “Crucify Him” they were not only demanding that Jesus be put to death, they were demanding that God curse Jesus. This meant good-bye to life forever. Christ experienced this total God - abandonment on the cross. (Galatians 3:13) This is why He cried out, “My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

On the cross, Jesus had no hope. The curse of God was so keenly felt that He feared He would never live again. He felt that sin was so offensive to God that the separation between Him and His Father was to be eternal. It was a sense of sin, bringing upon Himself the wrath of His Father that broke Jesus’ heart and ended His life (Psalm 69:20). Yet He endured the cross for

YOU! ( see Hebrews 12:2)

6. The Father did not forsake Jesus only because the Jews demanded that He do so. Our

salvation was so important to God that it “pleased the Father to bruise Him” (Isaiah 53:10).

What was laid upon Jesus that enabled Him to be “made an offering” for our sin?

Isaiah 53:6,10,11

_____the iniquity of us all________________

We can only faintly understand the agony that our Heavenly Father must have suffered as He Himself allowed the course of sin to fall on Jesus, His beloved Son. The Father and the Son were telling the human race that their love for us is more than their love for each other.

7. Prayerfully read Psalms chapters 22: and 69: List the emotions Christ felt while He was on

the cross for you.

a. Ps. 22:1,2,11; 69:3,17 __forsaken, troubled, weary of crying, God hears not his cries, etc._

b. Ps. 22:6 ___________reproach, despised______________

c. Ps. 22:12,13,16 beset me, gaped upon me, roaring , mouth against, bullied, etc.,

d. Ps. 69:20,21 _reproach hath broken my heart, full of heaviness, need of comforters,thirst

e. Ps. 69:1,2,14,15 _________helpless, hated, etc.________

Have you ever felt guilty over a sin that you have committed?

Imagine adding the guilt of not only that one sin, but also the sins of last week. All last year.

Your entire life! Pretty heavy isn’t it? Now, think about Christ on the cross. He not only experienced the guilt of the sins of your entire life, but He experienced the guilt for the sins of the entire world throughout history. ( 1 John 2:1,2)

This is what Christ felt as He actually experienced separation from His Father. These emotions are infinitely greater compared to what we feel when we merely imagine ourselves in the above situations. The physical pain was present, but compared to what He was experiencing inside His mind and heart, the physical pain was hardly felt.

8. In Luke 23:35to39 who did satan use in tempting Christ to come down from the cross?

verse 35 ________the people__________

verse 36,37 ______the solders______

verse 39 ________one of malefactors________

Jesus knew that He could not save Himself and us too. Either He died of we would die. Yet in that darkened hour, as He stared into the blackness, He pictured you. It was a that moment that He decided to stay on the cross. You were more important to Him than His own existence. He was willing to die that you might live.

9. What did Jesus accomplish by “becoming a curse for us?” Galatians 3:13

___________redeemed us_______

Christ bore the curse that should have been ours. Our sin has separated us from God.

(Isaiah 59:2) When Jesus bore our sin at Calvary, He experienced that same separation.

(Matthew 27:46) Yet His separation meant our redemption.

10. Paul’s understanding of Calvary lead him to be compelled by the love of Christ.

(2 Corinthians 5:14,15) How will a correct understanding of Calvary affect us?

________constraineth us, not to live for ourselves(selfishly), but unto Jesus____

Jesus’ greatest desire is that we will realize all that He has done for us. He knows that if we can grasp the love revealed at Calvary, appreciation and gratitude will cause us to cease loving for ourselves and live for Him.

Consider the following statement:

“Upon Christ as our substitute and surety was laid the iniquity of us all. He was counted a transgressor that He might redeem us from the condemnation of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart. The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity filled the soul of His Son with consternation.

All His life Christ had been publishing to a fallen world the good news of the Father’s mercy and pardoning love. Salvation for the chief of sinners was His theme. But now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father’s reconciling face. The withdrawal of the

divine countenance from the Savior in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was His agony that His physical pain was hardly felt.

Satan with His fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Savior could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that their separation was eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will

feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter and broke the heart of the Son of God” Desire of Ages, page 753

The previous lessons on God’s judgment may have caused you to feel the terror of appearing in your own guilt and uncleanness before the Searcher of hearts. Imagine being left there. That’s

how Jesus felt on the cross. Yet, as a result of what He was willing to bear, we have hope. There is Somebody to pull us out of the water before we drown! The cross of Jesus has provided you with a safe passage through the judgment.

Is it your desire to no longer live for yourself, but to live for Him who died for you?

___________YES !!!___________________________________________