Yes, The price was high, but Jesus paid it all!
Jesus was born into this world with a mission: He was born to die. Jesus' death on the Cross was not only divinely appointed, it was necessary, for a great price had to be paid to redeem us from sin.
In the natural, thinking about death makes us uncomfortable. Why? Because we weren't created to die; we were created to live eternally. But when Adam disobeyed God, death entered the world (Rom 5:12). So God sent Jesus to die on the Cross to restore us to life.
While Jesus was on the earth, He kept the Law and boldly proclaimed the Gospel, yet He still had to suffer and die. Jesus' death could be seen as the greatest injustice ever known to mankind. He didn't deserve to die; He died because, as Isaiah said, "the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). Jesus endured the agony of the Cross so you and I could be washed clean and set free from sin.
Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us what Jesus suffered on the Cross for us: "For He HATH MADE HIM TO BE SIN FOR US, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." I don't know that we could ever fathom the depth of those words, but I thank God for them!
Jesus never sinned, yet He became a sin offering for us and died a sinner's death. When Jesus lived on the earth. crosses were used for capital punishment of the most wicked criminals. But because of Calvary, we as believers can look at the Cross in the light of God's Word through the eye of faith. And instead of seeing a hideous instrument of penalty and punishment for crime, we behold a beautiful, visible symbol of God's great love for us!
The Cross does represent God's wrath and punishment for sin, but it also proclaims His love for the world. Someone might say, "That's a paradox! The Cross can't stand for both punishment and love at the same time!" But it does and it always will! Out of love for us, Jesus bore the punishment for our sin.
Jesus paid the price that we could not pay. There is nothing we could have ever done to gain citizenship in Heaven. But because Jesus Christ became our substitute on the Cross at Calvary, we who believe in Him have been brought into the Kingdom of Heaven and loosed from the chains of sin, sickness, poverty, and spiritual death!
What happened on the Cross is a reality. It's not a myth or a fairy tale, as some people would like us to believe. The Cross stand in the midst of human history as a warning to those who refuse to believe the Word of God. It also stands as a blessing to those who recognize it as the supreme revelation of God's grace.
When God looked down from "Heaven's Courtroom" at our sinful state, we didn't receive justice; we received grace and mercy. If we had received justice, we would have paid the price instead of Jesus' paying it.
In earthly courtrooms, many people stand before a judge and throw themselves on the mercy of the court. The judge can either be lenient and show them mercy, or he can be severe and sentence them to the fullest extent of the law. The out come depends on the judge presiding over the case.
I thanks God that I can stand unafraid before the Judge of all mankind, because He has already extended mercy to me! Because I have accepted that mercy, I now legally stand before Him pure and clean by the blood of Jesus.
Some people want to wait until Judgement Day to ask for God's mercy. But right now is the time for them to accept the offer of mercy that God has extended. Then they can know where they will spend eternity before they ever stand before His throne.
God showed you mercy when He offered you eternal life through Christ's death on the Cross. I'm not saying that your body received eternal life; it's the real you -- your spirit -- who received eternal life.
The moment you accept the shed blood and broken body of Jesus Christ as atonement for your sins, you become a new creature in Christ; you pass from death unto life (1 John 3:14)
You'll still look the same way you did before you accepted Christ because your salvation has nothing to do with your physical body. However, it has everything to do with the real man who lives on the inside. The Apostle Paul said it this way: "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME" (Gal. 2:20 NIV).
We can live eternally because Jesus bore our sins when He laid down His life for us (John 10:11,15). To better understand the significance of the transferral that took place on the Cross, we should go back and study what the prophet Isaiah had to say about it. First, let's look at how Isaiah described the glory of Jesus' birth.
Now contrast Isaiah's account of Jesus' birth with his graphic description of Jesus' death. Isaiah understood that man faced the vexing problem os sin, and he understood that God was going to send the Messiah. But he also received a revelation that the Messiah would become the sin offering for mankind. In Isaiah 53, he spoke of Jesus' agony and crucifixion as if the coming events had already happened.
Isaiah's prophecy tells us that our sins were laid upon or transferred to Jesus. That glorious transferral was reflected in the symbolic exchange that took place every year on the Day of Atonement. In the Book of Leviticus, God gave Aaron, God's anointed priest, specific instructions regarding the ceremonial atonement for the sins of the Israelites on that day.
Aaron would select two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then he cast lots for the two goats -- one for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. The goat whose lot fell to the Lord was sacrificed as the sin offering. The other goat, the scapegoat, was kept alive to make atonement for the people by symbolically taking away their sins. (Lev. 16:7-10).
The goats that were selected had to be free of any kind of blemish or defect. The priests could never offer to the Lord a sacrifice that was imperfect. The goat for the sin offering was slain, and its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat and the altar. The body of the goat was then burned outside the camp. Next, the priest laid his hands on the scapegoat and confessed over it the sins of the Israelites, laying the people's guilt on the scapegoat. Then the scapegoat was led away and turned loose in the desert, removing the sins of the Israel from their camp.
The Israelites had to go through that ritual every year to atone for their sins. But, thank God, at the proper time there came a spotless Lamb! This Lamb was perfect because He did not come from the loins of a man. Through the Holy Spirit, Many conceived, and the perfect sacrificial Lamb came into the earth (see Luke 1:26-35)
Over the years, the blood of many bulls, lambs, and goats was shed to cover sin. But finally, once and for all, the blood of the Lamb of God was shed for the remission of sin (Matt. 26:28)! Jesus Christ became our sin offering and our scapegoat! Today we can enjoy God's Presence and His peace because Jesus took our iniquity away from us (John 1:29). Jesus chose to become the supreme sacrifice by dying on the Cross so that we could have life and have it more abundantly!
I realize it's difficult to fully comprehend all there is to know about the price Jesus paid for us. But thank God that Jesus was willing to pay the price!
What's even more difficult for us to understand is the kind of love that compelled God to sacrifice the life of His Son for us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that you and I might believe in Him and receive eternal life (John 3:16). Thank God for the Cross! Thank God for the Lamb who was slain! Thank God for His great plan of redemption!
I dare say we will not have the full understanding of what happened as a result of the shed blood and broken body of Jesus Christ until we arrive in Heaven and see for ourselves what the Apostle John saw in a vision on the isle of Patmos.
I belive that we will only begin to fully comprehend the magnitude of God's love and forgiving power when we stand with people from every nation and tongue before His throne. With the Lamb of God seated at His right hand. Only then will we begin to gain a full appreciation of the great price Jesus paid.
The goat whose blood was shed on the Day of Atonement could never come back to life, and the scapegoat was turned loose in the desert, never to be seen again. But the sacrificial Lamb of God lives forevermore!
As Jesus hung on the Cross, blood flowed from the stripes on His back. Blood flowed from His head, pricked by the crown of thorns, and from His hands and feet, pierced by the cruel nails. The Jesus looked toward Heaven and said, "It is finished." His head sunk to His chest, and He died (John 19:30). The curtain in the temple that separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was torn in two from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38).
Then Jesus' friends took His broken body off the Cross and placed Him in the tomb. But on the third morning, Jesus Himself came forth from the tomb alive with the keys of death, hell, and the grave.
Today we celebrate the fact that Jesus took our place on the Cross. To some, the Cross is a hideous object of disgrace. But to the children of God, it is a precious reminder of God's mercy and love, because it was there that Jesus' blood flowed, and the price for the remission of sin was paid.
Through the blood of Jesus, we are set free from sin and can receive abundant life, health, and prosperity. No other blood, no other lamb, and no other offering for sin could have provided that for us. Now we can rejoice, knowing that all the blessings God has promised in His Word are available to us -- because Jesus paid the price we could not pay!
Extracted from "The Word of Faith" April 1997
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