CHRIST OFFERED GREAT,
LAST SACRIFICE

 Why did Jesus have to suffer for the sins of mankind? Why couldn’t God just declare us forgiven rather than require the tortuous death of his Only Begotten? How could Christ pay for the sins of billions of people?

 God the Father is the supreme administrator of all law, the Great Judge of the universe. He asks his wayward children to repent, obey his commandments and become worthy to dwell in his presence.

How could we repent if there were no laws? How could there be laws if there were no punishments? Why would anyone obey laws that had no consequence?

There are eternal laws. There had to be consequences for our sins.

The consequence of sin is seen in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve transgressed, they did not die physically that day. But they did die spiritually, being cast out of the presence of God.

That is the ultimate consequence of sin. No unclean thing can dwell in God’s presence.

Can God be arbitrary and capricious in enforcing the eternal laws? No. God must be perfectly just. So how can he also be merciful enough to allow us back into his presence?

There had to be an atoning sacrifice. And only the Son of God had the unique attributes necessary to provide the last and great sacrifice. No sacrifice of man, animal or fowl would suffice. The sacrifices of the Law of Moses were only a type of things to come.

As the son of a human mother, Jesus could die. But only as the Son of God could he bear the burden of the sins of the world and then, after his death, take his life up again in the resurrection.

Christ’s sacrifice began in the Garden of Gethsemane.

“My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death,” he told Peter, James and John (Matthew 26:38). Jesus then “fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. … Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt” (Mark 14:35-36).

In response to his prayer, “there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him,” but that did not stop the great spiritual pain Jesus was suffering.

The agony we see at that time was not caused by fear of dying. Jesus was prepared for that. Indeed, he had practically forced the hand of Jewish leaders when he publicly ridiculed them as hypocrites and “whited sepulchres.”

The pain Jesus felt was the ultimate spiritual death that came upon him as he accepted the guilt of all mankind. All spiritual light was withdrawn. The pain was unfathomable as God withdrew his spirit completely.

Despite the presence of the angel, the Scriptures say: “Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:43-44).

Those drops, I believe, were literally his sacred blood – so intense was the spiritual agony our sins created. In that garden the son of Mary and heir of God accepted the greatest burden ever experienced. And this was just the beginning of Jesus’ suffering.

 Christ was then betrayed by a friend, arrested as a common criminal, put through a rigged trial, spit upon, slapped, mocked, crowned with a ring of sharp thorns pressed into his skull, and “scourged” with a multi-lashed whip with pieces of bone attached to the ends.

 Forty times the bones and leather tore into Jesus’ back – a torture that frequently killed victims by itself. Then the soldiers forced the King of Kings to carry his heavy cross to Golgotha.

The Roman executioners inflicted the greatest pain they knew to inflict. They drove nails through Jesus’ hands, wrists and feet, crushing sensitive nerves and quivering tendons.

As they lifted Jesus up on the cross, naked and humiliated, his weight tore the spikes further through his flesh.

Through all this ordeal Jesus could have called down legends of angels and saved himself, but for our sake he did not.

Finally, after hours of pain and agony, he cried out: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

This was not a moment of doubt and weakness. In this moment the Father again withdrew his presence so completely we cannot comprehend the spiritual pain that was combined with the physical torture.

Christ had to make that last and great sacrifice alone.

But the Jews and Romans did not kill Jesus by themselves. Doctors say the watery substance that poured out when soldiers speared Jesus’ side is evidence he died literally of a broken heart. The weight of our sins provided the final impetus to death.

Never had there been and never will there ever be again such a tortuous ordeal. Jesus had to suffer much more than just physical death in order to appease the demands of justice to pay for all our combined and accumulated sins. He had to suffer to such an extent that the entire universe would proclaim, “It is enough. The debt is paid.”

The Lamb of God accepted our sins willingly, suffered his broken heart contritely, and opens his merciful arms to us lovingly.

During Easter season and throughout the year, may we accept Christ’s precious gift and celebrate his perfect love.