God’s plan of redemption was accomplished in the final moments of the crucifixion when Christ stated, “It is finished”. (John 19:30) Only dimly revealed through the Law and the Prophets, the truth of the promised Messiah according to God’s plan was climatically revealed at the actual death of a Savior. The miracle of Salvation for all mankind was contained within the very sacrificial offering of Christ. What Christ gave at Calvary provided fallen man with deliverance from the bondage of sin; divine healing for the body; and an escape from Eternal Judgment in the afterlife. According to the purpose of God, Christ came down from Heaven as a man and gave his life as a ransom. The ransom He paid was His suffering and death on the cross.
• Matt 20:28…Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
In the final moments of Calvary there was loneliness within the heart of the Christ. He was alone when the Father turned away from the sin’s of humanity that He bore in His physical body at Calvary. Christ, who was without sin, bore the punishment in His body... for the sins of humanity.
• Matthew 27:46…My God, my God why has thou forsaken me…
• 2 Corinthians 5:21…For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
What Christ bore on the cross was a payment to God for all humanities hopelessness, helplessness, and rejection of the truth concerning Christ. The long awaited ransom prophesied through the ages was now paid to the Father through the completed work of suffering and death on the cross. Within the death of a Savior an exchange was made for God’s Divine Judgment of putting away sin and its Eternal punishment (the unbeliever’s consequence for the sins committed in this life) that comes in the afterlife.
• Heb 9:26…For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
• Heb 9:28…So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Isaiah the Prophet vividly foretold that Christ was to be like a lamb brought to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53) Innocent from birth Christ was the very Lamb of God who was without sin and spoke no guile from His mouth; however he did bare grief, sorrow, and Eternal punishment for all the sins of humanity, in His own body on the tree.
• 1 Peter 2:22-24…Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
God’s righteous Judgment required that Christ bare punishment for the sins of humanity. In return Calvary provided deliverance for all believers in Christ first to receive a clean heart to live holy rather than unholy in this present life; and second to miss the consequence of sins Eternal Punishment for the unbeliever beyond the grave. In Christ’s final moments of human life on earth, God who does not stand present for sin, turned away from the sin’s of humanity that Christ bore in His body at Calvary. This was the reason Christ cried out, “My God, my God why has thou forsaken me”.
According to Divine Law the physical body of Christ was given as a sacrificial offering to God. For this reason, God created the spiritual body of Christ, the church as a place of security for those who trust in the shed blood of Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins. The redemptive power of Christ at Calvary is why those with faith in Him can have refuge and deliverance from sin, death, and eternal punishment. By the Grace of God Christ himself experienced death as a man so God could destroy* him who has the power of death…that is the Devil.
• Heb 2:9-10…But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things
• Heb 2:14-15…that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
*Divine Judgment has been granted upon the Devils existence. At the end of time in the Kingdom Age (when everything becomes Eternal as it was in the Garden of Eden) the Devil, death, and Hell are all cast into the sea of fire. Revelation 20:10-15
The redemptive work of Christ at Calvary can destroy the power of sin and death that separates man from God. The redemptive power of Calvary offers any believer a new heart and new life in Christ. What Christ did at Calvary can provide divine healing to the physical body of man. Calvary was the last part of Christ’s human life of suffering that paid the price for all humanities infirmities and sicknesses. It pleased God to bruise Him. Why? God’s plan of redemption allows every situation of every human being (since the fall of Adam) to be judged in light of the Savior’s suffering and death on the cross.
• Matt 8:17… That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
• Isa 53:3-10…He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him
From the fall of Adam until Christ’s earthly ministry, men of God looked forward to a fulfillment of the promised Savior. The Savior appeared; He was then crucified to complete the plan of redemption for fallen man; and then resurrected from the grave as spoken by the Prophets. Today, He’s exalted and seated at the right hand of the Father where He resides as the head of the church, the body of Christ. Members of the body of Christ are miraculously united in the comfort and directive of the promised Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven.
We members of the body of Christ look back 2010 years ago to the place where Christ suffered and died according to the testimony of the Prophets and Apostles. We are blessed with thankfulness for the new heart received and the revelation of Christ we have through the Holy Spirit. Better yet we have a future hope that lies in the better life beyond this present evil world*. As God in the flesh,
• Christ was the Suffering Savior
• Christ was obedient unto death even the death on the cross
• Christ carried deep sorrow because of the condition of man’s heart
• Christ was Israel’s final sin offering
• Christ bore the punishment for sin in His body
• 1 Tim 2:5-6…For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
*I am personally thankful for everything Christ did in His final hour; and the future I have with Him on the other side in Heaven. With gladness I testify to everything I know about Christ in the content of these writings. May His Spirit continue to inspire this writer’s heart and life to inspire others as I have been blessed. These writings are made in memory of Dr. Hubert Lindsey…I was able to get this writing to my mother also...before she went to Heaven. Blessed be the holy name of my Lord....Forever.
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