THE CRUCIFIXION

THE LOVE THAT SURPASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 6:23 MKJV)

“Jesus said to her, I am the Resurrection and the Life! He who believes in Me, though he die, yet he shall live. (Joh 11:25 MKJV)

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When I first read Isaiah’s “Man of Sorrows,” I was shocked. Here is the prophecy of our Lord! His life, his death. And why?

As follows:

“Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of Jehovah revealed? (Isa 53:1 MKJV)

For He comes up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground; He has no form nor majesty that we should see Him, nor an appearance that we should desire Him. (Isa 53:2 MKJV)

Isaiah 53:2 (Good News Translation)

²It was the will of the Lord that his servant
    grow like a plant taking root in dry ground.
He had no dignity or beauty
    to make us take notice of him.
There was nothing attractive about him,
    nothing that would draw us to him.

Good News Translation (GNT)

Imagine, Jesus was so normal looking. Nothing to distinguish Him from any other Jewish man. That is why it took Judas to identify Him by a kiss on the cheek.

The hype in the movies, is just that “hype!” They make Him taller than any of his companions, and usually has blue eyes. When in fact, “he was nothing to look at.”

“He is despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as it were a hiding of faces from Him, He being despised, and we esteemed Him not. (Isa 53:3 MKJV)

“Surely, he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. (Isa 53:4 MKJV)

He was smitten of God because God had to destroy Him on the Cross.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was on Him; and with His stripes we ourselves are healed. (Isa 53:5 MKJV)

Through Adam we inherited sin, since “the wages of sin is death,” who could help us?

First Prophecy

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel. (Gen 3:15 MKJV)

Enmity between Adam & Eve’s seed (Fallen humankind), and your seed, (Satan & his demons).

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, each one to his own way; and Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa 53:6 MKJV)

We are sinners by nature, but the Devil in the mix and we get a world that is dying and a people with no souls.

“He was oppressed, and He was afflicted; yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep

before its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. (Isa 53:7 MKJV)

He did not say anything in His defense.

He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of My people (the Jews) He was stricken. (Isa 53:8 MKJV)

And He put His grave with the wicked, and with a rich one in His death; although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. (Isa 53:9 MKJV)

He was taken to Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb, as it was offered.

“Yet it pleased Jehovah to crush Him; to grieve Him; that He should put forth His soul as a guilt-offering. He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the will of Jehovah shall prosper in His hand. (Isa 53:10 MKJV)

This verse sounds like a contradiction, but isn’t that what happened?

“He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul. He shall be fully satisfied. By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify for many; and He shall bear their iniquities. (Isa 53:11 MKJV)

Didn’t He?

“Therefore I will divide to Him with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul to death; and He was counted among the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for transgressors. (Isa 53:12 MKJV)

The strong, bearing His name, the transgressors being the lowly, and we are all transgressors.

JESUS THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE

His step may linger, but Jesus comes at length. While He seems to tarry, He knows each sigh, pang, and tear that escapes from the sufferer and His friends; and when He arrives He does more than we asked or thought. He raises not the sick, but the dead. He makes the darkness of the tomb the background to set forth the resurrection glory. He turns tears into jewels, as the sun does with dewdrops. In after days the three would not have wished it otherwise. They would review it all, as we shall our life from the hilltops of heavenly glory, with the cry of “Amen, Hallelujah.” Amen, the reverent assent of the will. Hallelujah, the glad ascription of praise. If we die before His second advent, we shall still live; if we live to see it, we shall be changed in a moment into His likeness.*

“Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me. (Joh 14:6 MKJV)

JESUS, THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE

As He neared the end, our Lord could speak of little else than the Father. Heaven was His Father’s house, where a prepared mansion awaits each of us, perfectly adapted to the peculiarities of our temperament. The yearning of the heart of man was truly set forth by Philip in his request to see the Father; but never before had it dawned upon human intelligence that the divine can find its supreme revelation in the simplicities and commonplaces of human existence. While Philip was waiting for the Father to be shown in lightning and thunder and the splendor of Sinai, he missed the daily unfolding of the life with which he dwelt in daily contact. To see Jesus was to see the Father. Nothing could more certainly prove the need of the Holy Spirit, by whom alone we can know the Lord.*

“Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. (Joh 14:1 MKJV)

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (Joh 14:2 MKJV)

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, so that where I am, you may be also. (Joh 14:3 MKJV)

“And where I go you know, and the way you know. (Joh 14:4 MKJV)

“Thomas said to Him, Lord, we do not know where You go, and how can we know the way? (Joh 14:5 MKJV)

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. And from now on you know Him and have seen Him. (Joh 14:7 MKJV)

“Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. (Joh 14:8 MKJV)

“Jesus said to him, Have I been with you such a long time and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. And how do you say, Show us the Father? (Joh 14:9 MKJV)

“Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The Words that I speak to you I do not speak of Myself, but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works. (Joh 14:10 MKJV)

“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works themselves. (Joh 14:11 MKJV)

“Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father. (Joh 14:12 MKJV)

“And whatever you may ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (Joh 14:13 MKJV)

“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. (Joh 14:14 MKJV)

Then why do people question the validity of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us?

Do you remember that the Devil tempted Him when he was in a very low state?

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit up into the wilderness, to be tempted by the Devil. (Mat 4:1 MKJV)

“And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry. (Mat 4:2 MKJV)

“And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. (Mat 4:3 MKJV)

“But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” (Mat 4:4 MKJV)

“Then the Devil took Him up into the holy city and set Him upon a pinnacle of the Temple. (Mat 4:5 MKJV)

“And he said to Him, If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. For it is written, “He shall give His angels charge concerning You, and in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.” (Mat 4:6 MKJV)

“Jesus said to him, It is written again, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” (Mat 4:7 MKJV)

“Again, the Devil took Him up into a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. (Mat 4:8 MKJV)

“And he said to Him, All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me. (Mat 4:9 MKJV)

“Then Jesus said to him, Go, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” (Mat 4:10 MKJV)

“Then the Devil left him. And behold, angels came and ministered to Him. (Mat 4:11 MKJV)

Jesus was quoting the Bible. Jesus chose not to worship him. Don’t you think He has as much free will as we do?

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane. And He said to the disciples, Sit here while I go and pray there. (Mat 26:36 MKJV)

“And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and He began to be sorrowful and very heavy. (Mat 26:37 MKJV)

“And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw. And He kneeled down and prayed, (Luk 22:41 MKJV)

“saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done. (Luk 22:42 MKJV)

This is the love of Jesus. Self-sacrificing, beyond all understanding. He could have walked away from it all, but He died an ignominious death for us. How can we not love Him?