Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ mas murdered. This is historical fact. Non-Christians that attested to Jesus’ death: Josephus (late first century), Tacitus (early second century), Lucian (early to mid second century), and Mara bar Serapion (second to third centuries) all report the event (source http://tiny.cc/hj2j2 ). This is in addition to many Biblical sources.
Killed. Executed. Crucified. He was nailed to a cross and people watched him take his last breath. They even drove a spear through his side to make sure he was dead.
But why? Why die?
Jesus was not shocked when he was killed, at least 3 times Jesus clearly told his friends that he would die (source http://tiny.cc/oolro ). Jesus was sent on what seemed like a suicide mission. This man said he was God, yet he could not get himself down from the cross. Shouldn’t he have sent angels to save himself? I’ll let the question of “why die” remain for a second.
Who are you?
Take a second. Who are you? Good person? Bad person? Now I know some will read this and start to expect a judgmental approach. But let’s simply do this by comparison, how good are you? No matter what, your opinion of yourself is subjective. It’s based on how you feel, and perhaps not truthfully who you actually are. Your peers may say you aren’t as good a person as they are (in comparison), perhaps because you don’t show genuine interest in their life and appear selfish and greedy with your time. But your peer may not be right; they may simply want to be higher on the “goodness” scale then you.
It’s like marks in a physics class, as long as you study more than your peers and do better, you can still get an A even if you fail. The good old bell curve. It’s all about comparisons.
And this moral bell curve is how some people (maybe you) think of God. You compare yourself to murderers or rapists and you figure God likes you. Perhaps to a lesser extent you compare yourself to smokers, or people who get drunk every weekend. You think your good, you even recycle! But this comparison is flawed, because like physics its not your actual grade… it’s based on an expected bell curve. Jesus said for you to be as perfect as God. That is your comparison! You don’t compare yourself to your peers (no one likes to be judged by imperfect people), you compare yourself to Jesus. And if you don’t meet that cut off, you fail.
There is no such thing as a moralistic bell curve when it comes to God.
God hates anything less then perfection. Perfect is the standard, pass or fail. God hates liars, condescending pride, impure hearts, and feet that don’t follow in God’s desired path. (Prov 6:16-19)
That’s right, God hates you and me.
This is why Jesus’ death is so significant, because Jesus was hated instead of followers of Jesus. A substitution happened on the cross. Jesus took your place, and my place. Jesus Christ became sin. He became my sin (lying, disobedience, pride) in order to provide a costly forgiveness. You can’t simply forgive someone and let them go free after they abuse a child. They need punishment. Likewise, God does not forgive someone without providing the proper sacrifice. So although hate is deserved, God instead puts his hate on Jesus who took on the sin of those who follow him (Christians). God wants everyone to be saved through this costly forgiveness, and one key step is to have faith in him. A believer has the sin put to death, so that they be free from that sin.
That’s right, God loves you and me more.
God provides costly forgiveness to those who believe. This is the best love, for someone to lay down their life for you. A Jesus did rise for you as well. Jesus also rose to set you free from death you deserve. He’s alive! His mission was to save you, so you shouldn’t feel sorry for him being on the cross.
Summary: Jesus died the death we should have died, so that we would no longer be hated by God. But God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness is seen as so important because of the hate that it had to overcome. God does judge in comparison to perfection, we know he takes judgment seriously because of how brutal Jesus’ death was. God is the only objective perfect judge. This is good Friday, because this is such good news – a remembrance that our sins are taken away!
This is central to Christian. A belief in this will rock your world. I’d love to talk to you about it. Message me!
No Bull... from Noble. 