The Beauty and Meaning of the Cross
This is the time of year when we as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ remember His death and subsequent resurrection 3 days later. As we approach Good Friday this year, the day Jesus was crucified, I would like to focus your attention on the cross.
For centuries, Christians have commemorated this event by adorning themselves, churches, and houses with the symbol of his crucifixion: the cross. We write and sing songs about the death of Christ. At First Family Church, we remember and celebrate it when we partake of communion every Sunday. It is a good thing that we place so much value on the death of Christ.
However, sometimes I wonder if we ever become so familiar with His death, that we forget to contemplate how significant and critical it really is. Some say that the church has domesticated the cross and forgotten not only its brutality, but its penetrating depth. I would agree. So this year during Holy Week, as we look at the death of Jesus the Christ, don’t let the fact that you are so familiar with it keep you from taking in how absolutely amazing it really is.
We never want to be too familiar with the death of our Savior.
With that said, I draw your attention to Luke’s account of the crucifixion (Luke 23:44-56). Luke informs us that from noon till 3 o’clock, there was darkness over the whole land. We know it was not an eclipse, because there was a full moon during the time of the Passover, and eclipses do not last 3 hours. Luke does not even tell us what the darkness means; however, I believe that if we look at other passages in the Bible, they will give us insight. We will consider them in a moment.
What is interesting is that none of the Gospel writers say much about the crucifixion other than that it took place. This is most likely because this form of death was so well known in the 1st century. However, there is something to be said of the physical aspects of the crucifixion.
By this point in the account, Jesus had essentially been kept up all night as He was unjustly examined by the Jewish Council (Sanhedrin), King Herod Antipas, and Pontius Pilate. So, in essence, He had been sleep deprived. He would have been exhausted. He had been spit on, struck/slapped in the face, and then later scourged.
Roman scourging was a very brutal practice. It was meant to weaken the condemned so that they die quicker from crucifixion. The victim was first publically stripped, usually left with nothing more than a loincloth, and then tied to a post. The “whip” (flagellum) had at least 3 tails, which were each weighted with lead balls or bones. The weighted strands were not meant to merely welt the victim, but rather to lacerate and tear the flesh off of their bones. Jesus endured this before He was nailed to cross. It so weakened Him that He could not even carry His own cross.
What we know from literature that has survived is that crucifixion was a particularly cruel form of death. It was so brutal that no Roman citizen could ever be put to death by crucifixion unless the emperor himself commanded it. After being nailed to the cross through the feet and wrists, the cross was then hoisted upright and placed in a hole that had been dug; a lot like a fence post would. When this was done, the flesh where the nails were placed would be torn open, causing excruciating pain.
The victim was then left on the cross to die. Death however would not come quickly. To die from crucifixion would mean to die from suffocation. The weight of your own body would put a great amount of strain on your lungs. Eventually, in order to breathe, you would have to push off your feet and pull with your arms, all the while feeling the pain from the nails. This would go on for hours. In Jesus’ case it went on for 6 hours (Mark 15:25 says it began at 9am). When you could no longer push and pull yourself up from being so exhausted, your lungs would collapse. The lack of oxygen to the brain would normally cause you to lose conscientiousness, and then you would die.
This suffering would be gruesome for any man. This is horrific! However, Jesus was not just any man. He was the God-Man, which means that He is the only man in history who did not deserve this type of death, but willingly endured it for our sake. These were the physical aspects of the crucifixion.
Then there are what I would call the spiritual aspects of the crucifixion. Luke tells us that it was dark for about 3 hours. This darkness is the first clue that informs us as to what was going on spiritually. Even though Luke, including Matthew and Mark, do not tell us why it was dark, I believe that there are other passages in Scripture that will inform us as to why it is dark. I believe that the darkness was supernatural and that it represented the presence of God, and I believe the Jews would have known this.
Even though God is light (1 John 1:5), which means He is not in any way evil, does not mean that He cannot be represented by darkness. When God’s presence is represented by darkness it does not speak of evil, but judgment. In fact, this picture of darkness is connected to day of judgment known as the “day of the LORD” in the Old Testament (Joel 2:1-2; Zephaniah 1:14-15).
The Jews would have been familiar with this picture. You can only imagine what they would have thought or felt. God, however, did not manifest Himself by the darkness in order to judge the Jews who had illegally condemned Him and then handed Him over to be crucified. Nor did God descend to judge the Romans who mocked Him and then nailed Him to the cross. To be sure, all of these acts were worthy of God’s wrath, for they had done this to God’s Son. The reason God was represented by darkness is because He had descended to pour out His wrath on His Son.
What was taking place for those 3 hours is that the Son was enduring the infinite wrath of God for us. This is why the night before in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was in such anguish that He sweat drops like blood. He knew what was coming. This is why He asked the Father 3 times for the cup to pass from Him. He knew He was going to endure the cup of wrath from the Father. This is also why, after He poured out His soul to the Father in the Garden, that the Father sent angels to strengthen Him (Luke 22:39-44).
Think of it this way, those who will go to Hell will forever be tormented by the wrath of God. The reason it lasts forever is because those in Hell will never be able to absorb the wrath of God and atone for their own sin. Yet, the perfect Son of God became a man for the purpose that He could be the acceptable sacrifice for the sins of His people. This is what is called propitiation (1 John 2:2). It means that He was the acceptable sacrifice.
This is why Jesus plus anything is completely ridiculous. This is why salvation has to be an act of divine sovereign grace. There is no way anyone could ever accomplish what Jesus did! This is why God absolutely abhors man-made religion that attempts to prove man righteous before an infinitely holy God! In John’s Gospel, Jesus is recorded to have said, “it is finished!” The only reason He could say that is because He knew the wrath of God was satisfied for all who would believe in Him. John tells us that, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son.”
This is what John meant. This is the love of God. This is the beauty of the cross. This is our amazing Savior. May we never forget the meaning of the cross!