Bible Reading:
Luke chapter 23

The Death of The Lord Jesus Christ

Easter is the time when many people all around the world remember how The Lord Jesus Christ suffered the death penalty on a cross at a place just outside Jerusalem called Calvary. He had been to court after He had been accused of doing terrible things, things He had not done. Even though He was found innocent He was still condemned to death. This was an event that took place not quite 2000 years ago, but 2000 years is a very long time. Why remember it nowadays at all?

In 2000 years there must have been hundreds of thousands of people falsely accused and executed for things they hadn't done. There must have been many people framed for other peoples' crimes. Why remember one individual?

The things that happened when The Lord Jesus died on the cross are a one-off event. Nothing else like it had happened before or will happen ever again.
It is all to do with:

Who is The Lord Jesus,
Exactly what He did,
Why He did what He did.
For whom He did what He did.

If we can really understand these things we will want to remember The Lord Jesus every day and not just at Easter.

Who is The Lord Jesus Christ?

Eternity is not long enough to begin to understand who The Lord Jesus is - let alone to tell anyone else. The Lord Jesus is absolutely perfect and sinless. Phil 2v6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The Lord Jesus has always been in perfect harmony with God The Father. He is the only One Who can say(John 10:30) I and my Father are one. As God is eternal so The Lord Jesus is eternal. The Lord Jesus has all the power of God.

When there was nothing else there was God. God made everything and it was by The Lord Jesus that all things were made. He was there before He made everything. It is difficult to think of nothing. We need so much to live. God needs nothing; He lives and always has done. God has always been there. We can only begin to understand Him a little bit if He explains about Himself to us. God says His name is I AM. God is always there.

We have an ant's nest in our front garden. If ants were at all interested in people they could sit on the lawn every morning and watch me as I go off to work. What do you suppose would go through that ants' mind as he sees me get in my car and go off to work. Would he understand why I go out at 7:15 every morning? Would He understand how my car does what it does in carrying me to work? Would He understand everything I do all day? (I don't so I doubt he would.)

That ant is more likely to understand what I do than we are to have an understanding of everything about God and His ways.

The Lord Jesus is One with this God. He created all things as we read in John 1. All the best qualities we could look for in a person are found perfectly in The Lord Jesus. He is honest and fair and kind and merciful and the list goes on and on of the qualities The Lord Jesus has.

So, the fact that The Lord Jesus is God demands our attention and our remembrance.

What did The Lord Jesus do?

Did you ever have to face up to something unpleasant? Maybe something really horrible has happened to you and you knew it was coming. Maybe you are facing something in the future that you do not really want to happen. It is not a nice feeling is it? The worse the thing we face the worse we feel about it.

I knew someone who got an abscess on the side of his head - it just appeared there and grew. The nurse said she didn't like the look of it and called the doctor. The doctor said he didn't like the look of it and called the hospital. The person with the abscess began to feel all was not as it should be. He went to the hospital where the hospital doctor cut some holes in the abscess without an anaesthetic and then stuffed a load of packing into the holes that she had cut in the side of this persons' head.

The hospital doctor said come back in a couple of days and we will re-pack the holes. You can imagine how this person felt at the prospect of a repeat performance of an already very painful hole in his head being poked about some more.

He started off in ignorance of what was coming and events were all outside his control. If you heard that this person deliberately volunteered to have an abscess that needed such painful treatment and actually planned to suffer all that pain you might be surprised that anyone would put themselves through such a thing.

The Lord Jesus Christ knew from before the world was made that He would come into the world and live as a man. He knew that He would be despised and rejected by other men, deserted even by His friends. He knew that He would suffer on the cross and die in terrible pain.

He knew that He would suffer spiritual agony even worse than His physical pain because He would be separated from God His Heavenly Father. This was because, as He hung on the cross, He carried all the sin of all His people and God cannot look upon sin so He had to turn away from The Lord Jesus.

He knew all these things in detail before the world was made and He still came and He still did all the things He knew He had to do. The Bible tells us how He was betrayed by one of His followers. He was brought to trial and lies were told about Him to the judge. He was beaten up and whipped by Roman soldiers. They made fun of Him and put a crown of thorns on His head. (Middle Eastern thorns are like barbed wire.) Then they forced Him to carry a heavy wooden cross through the streets of Jerusalem to the place of execution. He was in so much pain they had to get someone else to carry the cross for Him. There they drove nails through His hands and His feet and hung Him up to die.

But, you might say, we thought we were considering what The Lord Jesus did - not what was done to Him?

Speaking about His life the Lord Jesus said, as we read in John 10:18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. The Lord Jesus could have called for 12000 angels to come and deliver Him. He only had to say the word and He need not have suffered for half a second as He did. The Lord Jesus deliberately allowed Himself to die on the Cross. This is what He did.

Why did He do what He did?

It was because of a promise. We must go back to before the world was made. God knew that He would make a perfect creation and that it would be spoiled by rebellion against His authority. The Lord Jesus entered into a solemn unbreakable agreement with God The Father. The agreement was that, if He - The Lord Jesus - suffered for sin then a great company of people would be delivered from Gods anger against sinners. God is just. A penalty must be paid if a law is broken. Law breaking must be punished. Breaking Gods law brings punishment forever in hell. No argument and no defence because to reject Gods authority is such an awful thing. We don't see it that way because we like to think we are OK - but God sees it as it is and it is what God says that counts. The Lord Jesus did what He did because He was the only One who could.

Nobody else is perfect so everyone else deserves to be punished for their own sins. The Lord Jesus never sinned so there was no reason for Him to be punished. When He died on the cross He was being punished for what other people had done not for anything He had done.

So this great being Who created all things came into His creation, suffered and died, nailed to a cross in place of sinners.

For whom did He do what He did?

Are you interested to know who it might be? These people who have their sins forgiven and who are made at peace with God with no judgement to come - are you curious as to who they are? Would it bother you if you never found out?

What if you are not one of them? What if The Lord Jesus has not done this great thing for you? I hope and pray that it bothers you. I hope and pray that God makes it bother you because then you will ask Him to forgive you because of what The Lord Jesus did on the cross.

If you ask Him He will forgive you.

And then you will know at least one person for whom The Lord Jesus died on the Cross - you will know that He died for you and that you are safe and on your way to heaven.