Jesus was led to the place of Golgotha, which is translated as the Place of Skull, to be crucified. Jesus carried the cross from Pilate's praetorium, the governor's palace, to where he would be crucified. On the way to the place of crucifixion, Jesus was very weak that He couldn't carry the cross by Himself anymore, and Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry the cross. It was 9 am on Friday morning that they nailed Jesus on the cross. They put an inscription of the charge against Him, saying, "The King of the Jews." Jesus was crucified between two criminals, and while He hung on the cross, they kept mocking Him. At 12 pm, darkness fell over the whole land until 3 pm, when Jesus died. Before Jesus died at 3 pm, He cried loudly, "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken." Jesus then breathed His last breath. The moment He died, the temple curtain separating the holy place from the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom. Jesus hung on the cross for six agonizing hours before He died.
Jesus did not come to conquer the earthly kingdom on this earth, but He came to conquer sin and death. Jesus had to give up His life to pay the penalty of our sins. The reason our Father in Heaven forsaken Jesus while He was on the cross was that all the sins of this world came upon Jesus. Jesus bore our sins, and our Heavenly Father had to separate Himself from Jesus because He was holy. Holiness and sin cannot mix together. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages (pays off) of sin is death..." So if we want to be forgiven of our sins, we have to pay for our sins with our death. Jesus paid the price of our sins with His death so that we may live and have eternal life. If we died for our sins, it would not be enough to be forgiven because we must live like Christ without sin for our death to be accepted. Jesus lived a sinless life and died for our sins. He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins, which is why Jesus came. There is no solution to sin but the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The temple curtain that separated the holy place from the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom because it signifies that we can now enter God's presence. Before the death of our Lord Jesus, only the high priest could enter the holy of holies once a year. The holy of holies is where the very presence of God resides. However, when Jesus died, those who genuinely believed in Jesus could now enter the very presence of God.
We now have access to God 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The presence of God is always with us because the Spirit of God lives in us. We are forgiven and have the presence of God in us because of what Jesus had done on the cross. The cross is not a defeat but a victory over sin and death. Let us be encouraged that we have been forgiven of our past sins, and we receive eternal life through our Lord Jesus.
Ask yourself these questions for application: (Think through carefully and meditate on the questions while answering these questions, and let the Spirit of God speaks to you) What is the importance of the death of my Lord Jesus? Since Jesus died for my sins, how can I receive His forgiveness? Why is it that only by believing in Him can I be forgiven?
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank you for saving me through the death of my Lord Jesus Christ. I was lost in my sin and had no hope of forgiveness until Jesus came into this world, took my sins upon Himself, and died for them to pay the penalty of my sins so that I could be forgiven. I will always be grateful for what Jesus has done in my life. Thank you, Jesus, for sacrificially loving me. In your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.
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