Still It Was My Sin
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”
Today’s Text: Matthew 27:45-56 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
The very moment of Jesus’s death. How are we supposed to feel about it? I wonder how the hosts of heaven responded at that moment. How did the Father respond?
I remember someone asking me once, if God knew that Jesus was going to be resurrected, what is the big deal, what is the great tragedy, of His death?
The brother was not saved when he asked that question, but he is now. Praise the Lord. I wonder how he feels about it now.
On the one hand, it is because of Jesus’s self-sacrifice that the the whole realm of humanity has the opportunity for the forgiveness of all of our sins. As Pastor Gah preached in today’s early morning prayer, God’s just nature demands that all sins be punished. And Jesus took that punishment for all of us. And as a friend of mine preached recently, basically we are all like the criminal Barabbas, whom Pilate released.
How did Barabbas feel when his punishment was nullified and transferred to an innocent man—and not just any man, but the God-Man, Jesus Christ?
And so, as the apostle Peter pointed out, quoting Isaiah -
“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
— 1 Peter 2:24
Should we rejoice and celebrate that Jesus was “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities”?
But it has to be more than that. Jesus took the punishment for the least of sinners and the worst of sinners, because even the least of sins contributes to the worst of sins. Jesus must have taken upon Himself the full wrath of God. But how are we to understand what that even means?
Could the crucifixion of an innocent man satisfy the justice of God for the sins of all humanity? I have no doubt that many innocent people died on a Roman cross. Of course, this innocent Man is the Son of God Himself.
Even if we cannot understand it, it only makes sense that Jesus, for a “moment,” was assigned a place with all sinners in hell.
How are we, the beneficiaries of His sacrifice, supposed to respond?
Behold the Man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Cry out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
It is indeed finished. And so I live for His glory and praise and witness.
Father, Your ways are high above our ways, Your thoughts than our thoughts. All things are in Your hands, and there was only one way to resolve the sin of this world. You have done it, and it is finished. Help me to understand what I cannot naturally understand—Your amazing love, mercy, and grace. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
