PRAYER + PRAISE
Christ’s Divine and Redemptive Death on the Cross
- Adam R. Cole // April 10, 2009
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. —John 19:30
He was unjustly accused and sent to death after being declared innocent. He was brutally beaten, made to wear a crown of thorns and mocked, “…save Yourself and come down from the cross,” the people yelled. All the way up until His last moments on this earth, He was treated inhumanely, told to carry his own cross (though someone else did it for Him), being nailed to the cross, and then hearing voracious snickers from the crowd and even from one of the men that was next to Him on the cross…all of it falling way short of the reverence that God deserves.
Despite these circumstances leading up to the very final breath of Jesus Christ, our Savior never turned away, never resisted the righteous path that the Father had placed Him on. He took the beatings and ridicule graciously, and He took the scorn of the people at the time, some of the same people whose sins He took upon Himself so that they may be saved…all so that last moment on the cross morphed into the most powerful moment of humankind.
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John describe His final breath in different ways, focusing on different elements of how He succumbed to the physical and spiritual pain and then gave Himself up to death. Just think of the “pain” … the pain of taking on the world’s sins, and the pain of the sins separating Him from God for the first time in His entire earthly life. Jesus knew what He had to do, so He endured that pain for all of us. John is one of the most telling of these, as He describes Jesus giving us His spirit, yielding to the all-powerful God and doing it in a way that is in fulfillment of God’s perfect plan, purpose, and will.
The fulfillment of Jesus Christ’s divine death on that cross was that He became a ransom for humanity, a reconciling force that allowed us to be righteous in the sight of God.
He bore our sins, in a devastatingly painful way, so that we can be cleansed.
May we yield up our spirit to Him in the same way, let His everlasting gift take hold in our heart, give all to Him for His sacrifice to us, and walk humbly and righteously before God and love others.
Praise: That He died on the cross to take away the sins of the world.
Prayer: That we understand and honor that death, and turn over our hearts and souls to Him.
Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, Thank You for this day, as every day. But today, especially, because of Your work and Your sacrifice on the cross. You took on so much pain, more than any of us would ever want to bear. You did it for us, You did to fulfill the will and the call of the Father. We praise You for that and are forever grateful for that. Let us be mindful of this sacrifice, always, and fulfill our commandments to love God, love others. In the name of the blessed and blameless Son that died on that cross, Amen.