el Gibson’s, “The Passion of the Christ,” touches a vital nerve. For many it is a deeply moving spiritual experience. For others the violent portrayal of Christ’s brutal suffering is too great for them to emotionally handle. 

Perhaps you have seen the film or maybe you haven’t. What’s the meaning of it all? Why all this horror? Was Jesus simply a martyr dying for a good cause? Why is the cross at the heart of Christianity?

There is something beyond the excruciating pain Jesus experienced on the cross. There is something more significant than the immensity of His physical suffering. There is something more than strong-armed, muscular Roman soldiers driving jagged nails through tender flesh. There is something more than a Roman lash embedded with fragments of metal ripping out hunks of flesh from His lacerated back. As horrible as His physical suffering really was, if that is all we see happening on Golgotha’s mountain we have really missed the meaning of it all.

The blood that oozes from His temple, spurts from His hands and flows from His feet, speaks of a God who would rather endure unbearable pain Himself than have one of His children lost.  The cross reveals, to a waiting world and a watching universe, the immensity of God’s love.  For you see, a rebel angel has challenged God’s government.  He has claimed God is arbitrary, cruel, and unjust.  He declared, God exacts love but does not give it. The cross reveals his lie.  It unmasks his delusion. It reveals his cunning falsehood. 

The essence of Calvary’s meaning is not the first death.  It is the second. The Bible teaches there are two deaths. The physical death, which everyone of us must die because we are born into a fallen world. (Romans 5:12) The second death is the eternal death which is the ultimate consequence of sin. (Romans 6:23)

When Jesus died on the cross, He experienced much more than physical death. The apostle Paul asserts, “He who knew no sin became sin for us.”(2 Cor 5:21) He then adds, “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon the tree.” (Gal 3:13) On the cross Jesus  experienced the lostness of humanity. The guilt of sin crushed out His life.  Suspended between heaven and earth, Jesus experienced the Father’s condemnation against sin. In every fiber of His being, in every nerve and every tissue of His body, in every tinge of emotion – physically – mentally – spiritually, Jesus experienced what it would be like to be lost.   Lostness is eternal separation from God in total annihilation.  It is to be God forsaken.   Sin is so horrible it separates sinners from God forever.

Jesus who existed with the Father, from all eternity, went through the wrenching agony of having His heart torn apart. Bearing the guilt and condemnation of our sins. He was willing to be lost forever, if that is what it took to save us forever.

As the federal head of the entire human race, He took upon Himself willingly and voluntarily all the condemnation of sin.  He was willing to be separated from the Father eternally so I could live with the Father eternally. He was condemned for my sins in which He had no share so I could receive His righteousness in which I had no share.

He wore the crown of thorns so I could wear the crown of glory.  He hung on a bloody tree, so I could eat from the tree of life.  His hands were spiked to a wooden bar, so mine can clutch the hands of a loving Father. He died the death that was mine so I could live the life that was His.

There is no other love like this in all of the universe. He loves you too much to let you go without putting up a fight. He is reaching out to you right now. He is speaking to your heart this very moment.  The Christ who died did not remain in the darkness of the tomb.  He is alive.  He resurrected from the dead, and He longs for you to live with Him forever.

He invites you to come to Him right now.  Come with all of your guilt.  Come with all of your heavy burdens.  Come with all of your sin.  Come with all of your heartache and pain. Come and give Him your life today.  Come and receive His grace, His mercy, His pardon, His forgiveness, His strength, and His power. Come and receive the most wonderful gift of all — “Eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Why not pray this prayer.

Dear Lord,

I come to you right now.  Thank you for your incredible, incomprehensible love revealed on Calvary’s cross. Thank you for bearing the guilt of my sins there.  Just now, I give you my life and accept your gift of eternal life in Jesus name.

Amen

Mark A. Finley

World Evangelist
It Is Written Television
Simi Valley, California