SCRIP-BITS

2 Corinthians 5:21.         For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Well, a blessed Good Friday to all you my Scrip-Bit friends and family! I know it’s a sad day, the saddest in our Christian calendar, but it’s one that has a glorious ending. As we say, after the rain, comes the sunshine, with the world looking bright and clean as ever. Or as Job would say, you can’t get the good without the bad. And that’s exactly what happened some two thousand years ago today, when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ selflessly sacrificed His sinless life on the cross of Calvary to pay for our sins, as required by His heavenly Father, a just and righteous judge. 

Oh yes, the Lord in all of His omnipotent power could have simply snapped His fingers and our sins would have been forgiven and paid for, but as the righteous judge that He is, our sins had to be paid for, since, as Bruh Paul wrote to the Roman church: ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.’ (Rom. 6:23) That technically means that when we sin, we die a spiritual not physical death, a death that moves us away from our heavenly Father, unto the point of eternal separation from Him, which is the worst thing that can ever happen to a human soul. 

However, the Lord didn’t want this most heartbreaking thing to occur to His most precious creation, so He devised a plan whereby it could be prevented. He knew that with our inherent sin nature, we could not give up sin entirely and thus save ourselves, and if He was to retain His attribute of being a just and righteous judge, someone or something had to pay for our iniquity. It had to be a blameless, sinless, unblemished being, and unfortunately, the ONLY such person in existence was His only Son Jesus Christ. 

Now, we talk about being so sad and heartbroken today with the crucifixion of Jesus, but have we ever stopped to consider what the Lord went through, the enormous heartache He suffered watching His Son hang from a wooden cross as Hs lifeblood slowly drain out of Him, for a bunch of ungrateful sinners made in His image? I don’t know if He could even watch it, as all the sins of this sinful world were placed on His Son’s sinless shoulders. Do you think He took pleasure in seeing Him manhandled and mercilessly abused? Flogged, scorned, jeered, a crown of thorns put on His kingly head and made fun of, then forced to carry His own heavy cross in such a mutilated state? 

I doubt it very much. But He had made the decision to save His frail, unworthy creation called mankind, and that was the only way He could do it in a just and righteous manner, so He had to bear the fatherly sorrow when it actually happened. Unless He abandoned the whole scheme of salvation, the only thing He could do right then was to ease the pressure on Jesus, by benevolently placing Simon the Cyrene in the picture to help Him bear the cross. Many of us have lost children, and I know it wasn’t easy to handle, and although the pain might eventually subside, the hurt and disappointment never really go away. And I keep telling my children that is one pain I never want to undergo, so please be careful how you live this life. 

Now, can you imagine how our heavenly Father felt when Jesus cried out to Him last night in the Garden of Gethsemane for a reprieve, when He said to His followers: ‘My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye (wait) here, and watch with me. (Matt. 26:38) Then He went further into the garden, fell on His face, and sorrowfully asked: ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ (Matt. 26:39) Three times Jesus prayed for the cup to pass from him, but got silence as an answer on every occasion, which meant that there was no way to avoid the humiliation and sacrifice, since from the beginning of time, the Father had promised to save sinners. 

But Luke tells us in his gospel while Jesus was praying and undergoing the great agony in the Garden: ‘And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.’ (Luke 22:43) His Father didn’t totally ignore Him, but sent Him strength for His tortuous journey. Luke even says: ‘And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.’ (Luke 22:44) That tells us how agonized Jesus was that night in the Garden of Gethsemane. How fully His humanity manifested itself. 

Now did He really sweat blood? It’s doubtful because the Greek text uses a word that is translated ‘like’ or a comparison. However, there is a rare medical condition called ‘Hematidrosis’ which can affect people in severe distress that way. And it’s interesting that Luke, the physician, is the only one who mentions it in his gospel. It’s explained thus: “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.’ Under the pressure of great stress, the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes ‘the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands.’ As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface – coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat.” 

But why was Jesus in such agony? Was it fear of death? We don’t think so. Most scholars believe that it was the fear of God’s wrath that had Jesus in such agony, the great burden of sin that was going to be placed on His shoulders. ‘For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.’ (2 Cor. 5:21) That was a mighty big burden to bear, and Jesus had to bear the ‘sufferation’ that came with it in His human form. 

Now here is an interesting explanation re the agony Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane, taken from an article by Mike Leake, on the Biblestudytools.com website. He writes: ‘It would not have been unusual for Jesus to be praying in the garden. Luke tells us “as was his custom.” What was different, though, is the vigor with which Jesus is praying. He is asking for a cup to be removed from him. What is this cup? In the Old Testament we can see that this “cup” is the pouring out of God’s wrath. 

Isaiah 51:17 says, “Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.” Again, in Psalm 75:8, “In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.” This is the same figure of speech that is used in Revelation of the pouring out the seven bowls of God’s wrath. What is this cup that is causing Jesus to stagger? It is none other than the wrath of God poured out against the sinfulness of mankind.’ 

Then commentator Leake goes on to ask why is Jesus so overcome at that moment. And answers that he thinks Jonathan Edwards captures it very well in his explanation. “Christ was going to be cast into a dreadful furnace of wrath, and it was not proper that he should plunge himself into it blindfolded, as not knowing how dreadful the furnace was. Therefore that he might not do so, God first brought him and set him at the mouth of the furnace, that he might look in, and stand and view its fierce and raging flames, and might see where he was going, and might voluntarily enter into it and bear it for sinners, as knowing what it was. This view Christ had in his agony. Then God brought the cup that he was to drink, and set it down before him, that he might have a full view of it, and see what it was before he took it and drank it.” 

Oh friends, it was an awful potion for Jesus to drink from that cup, especially in His humanity, but He showed His belly and backbone and drank it for His Father and our sakes without complaint. So today, I plead with us to consider all that He went through on our behalf on this sad, sacrificial day, and come to the only decision we can come to with a truly LOVING and grateful heart beating within us; that’s to follow, worship and LOVE Jesus with all of our hearts, minds, bodies and souls. Under the prevailing circumstances, it’s the ONLY wise decision possible! Much LOVE!

…in Jesus…we have a Saviour, a Redeemer…like no other…the best there is…or ever will be…                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

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