"It was nine o'clock in
the morning when they crucified Him.... When it was noon, darkness came over the
whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a
loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, My God,
why have You forsaken Me? ... Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed His last.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the
centurion, who stood facing Him, saw that in this way He breathed His last, he
said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God!" (Mark 15:25-39)
In that moment of Your
death upon the cross, all our sins of all our generations were laid upon You. In
the mystery of faith and the power of love, as the spotless and holy Lamb of
God, without sin or blemish, You became our Sacrifice to take away the sins of
the world. "For our sake (the Father) made (the Son) to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21).
"He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we
might live for righteousness; by His wounds (we) have been healed" (1 Peter
2:24).
In that moment when You
became sin for us, You were forsaken so that we could be forgiven. You were our
Sacrifice so that we could be accepted. You poured out Your blood to accomplish
what our sinful lives or even our most righteous acts never could. "For in Him
all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him God was pleased to
reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace
through the blood of His cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in
mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His fleshly body through death,
so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him - "
(Colossians 1:19-22).
At that moment, the
veil of the earthly temple was torn asunder, as You bore our sins upon Your
earthly body. And at that moment, in Your perfect Spirit You entered into the
Holy of Holies of the heavenly temple to dash Your perfect blood upon the
eternal alter of God: "He entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the
blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood, thus obtaining eternal
redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of ashes of
a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is
purified, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to
worship the living God!" (Hebrews 9:12-14). "For Christ did not enter a
sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but He entered into
heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God on our behalf" (Hebrews
9:24).
Words cannot say how
thankful I am for Your great sacrifice of love for me. The honest truth is that
I don't fully grasp - and perhaps never will, even if I ponder the mystery of
the cross for all eternity with You - the depths of Your love and the cost of
Your sacrifice, as You felt forsaken by the Father in that moment of sacrifice
for our sins. But I know enough, by the grace of Your Spirit, to embrace the
grace of Your indescribable gift of eternally self-sacrificing love on that
cross. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Be encouraged today! In the Love of Jesus, Tommy
Hays
Dear friend, on this day we remember the day our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ was crucified to death on the cross to pour out His blood
for us, I pray you will know in a deeper way than ever before how much God loves
you. Let's pray for one another to live a life by the power of the grace of God
that honors His name and His sacrifice for us. God bless you!
Be empowered, equipped, and encouraged to fulfill your destiny
in Christ!
Tommy & Sylvia Hays | Messiah
MinistriesHealing from the Inside Out
