Joyful and Grateful Tomorrow is Good Friday. Tomorrow, all over the world, born again disciples of Jesus Christ will remember more so than usual the incredible price that was paid for our forgiveness. We will spend extra time in prayer and worship, remembering and worshiping our beloved Savior who willingly allowed Himself to undergo one of the cruelest, most grusome forms of execution ever devised by wicked men. And He willingly did so for one reason, because it was the Father's will to redeem a special people for Himself. Praise, and honor, and power and glory be to our God forevermore, and to His beloved Son, Jesus the Christ, who is no longer dead but is alive forevermore, seated at the right hand of God!
Last Sunday, I taught a lesson to my class from Luke 23:32-49 about the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior. And as I studied that passage, one thing truth became abundantly clear... that this execution of "a condemned criminal" was unlike any other execution before. This type of thing had been done before; this was nothing new. And yet there was something different about this one... there was something special about it. What was it? It wasn't the mood of the soldiers, it wasn't the crowds of the people, it wasn't the Roman Governor who sentenced him... No, it was the condemned Himself! This was no ordinary execution because this was no mere man being put to death; it was none other than the Son of God... God the Son, incarnate in human flesh! And there are 3 sources of testimony that testify to the proof of His divinity.
First, God the Son (Jesus Himself) testified to His own divinity...
a. by an incredible offer of forgiveness (vs.33-34)
b. by an incredible promise of eternal life (vs.39-43)
c. by an incredible power over his own death. (vs.46)
Jesus had just underwent one of the cruelest, most gruesome forms of punishment ever devised by wicked man… He had been scourged to the point that his chest and back would have looked like ground hamburger… much of his beard had been plucked from face… and great thorns had been pressed down into his scalp causing a great profusion of blood. The word of God says that He was completely unrecognizable! But yet even after enduring all of this horrible, horrible suffering for us… Jesus was able to look on his enemies and those spitting and mocking him… he was able to look at them with compassion… and breathe a prayer of forgiveness for them.
What man could have done that? Jesus testified to His own divinity by his compassion.
But Jesus testified to His divinity by an incredible promise of eternal life…Was he mad? Insane? He was on the cross… How in the world could he talk of paradise? B/c He knew who He was… and He knew why He was there… and He knew where He was headed. What unbelievable confidence and composure, in such agony?!
But if those two were not enough, Jesus finally testified to His own divinity by a real display of power… a power that He had over His own life… b/c here Jesus did something here that no other man in the world can do… he was master over his own death. No one killed Jesus, no one murdered or took his life; He laid it down of His own accord... And 3 days later He took it up again! (Ref: John 10:17-18)
Second, God the Father testified to His Son's divinity...
a. Through the fulfilling of prophecy… prophecies such as:
-he’d be crucified between 2 thieves (Is.53:12)
-his garments would be divided and gambled for (Ps.22:18)
-he would be surrounded and ridiculed by his enemies (Ps.22:7-8)
-he would commend his spirit to the Father (Ps.31:5)
Only the almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing God who is in complete control could announce with such accuracy the sufferings of the Messiah. And by doing so, Scripture proves that Jesus is the Messiah sent from God the Father. God the Father also testified through the creation itself. From 12 noon to 3pm, there was an unnatural darkness over the land. (Luke 22:53). And finally, God the Father testified to Jesus' divinity through the ripping of the Temple Veil from top to bottom, symbolizing the doing away with the old sacrificial system (Matt 27:51). God was testifying to the world that there was no access to Him through Jesus Christ. No more would a veil separate man from God. Now, every person has unbelievable access into the very throne room of heaven through Jesus Christ. As John 14:6 says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Me (Jesus)."
Third, God the Spirit testified to the divinity of Jesus...
a. Through a condemned criminal…
b. Through a pagan soldier…
c. Through the crowds of people…
+What do we see from all three of these?
We see the genuine recognition that Jesus was someone unlike anyone else. The condemned criminal recognized Jesus as Messiah and asked to be remembered when He came in His Kingdom. The pagan soldier, who would have been very use to watching men die on the cross, was terribly fearful after seeing the way Jesus died, and even confessed out loud that this man was of divine origin. The crowds of people normally would have enjoyed and celebrated at the execution of criminals deserving to die. I’m reminded of times no so long ago in our own country when they had public hangings… people would gather in the cold and rain, they would sing hymns, sometimes sermons were preached… and they were not coming to mourn over convicted criminals, they were coming to watch a deserving man die for what he had done. But at this particular execution, when it was all said and done, they didn’t celebrate or rejoice, but the Bible says they mourned greatly as Jesus’ death. And we know that this was the Spirit of God testifying through these people b/c the Scriptures tell us that no one recognizes and confesses Jesus without the work of the Spirit of God in their hearts. (References: 1 John 4:2-3; 1 Cor.12:3; 2 Cor.2:14) It doesn’t necessarily mean that all became genuine believers and followers (though it is very possible that many did… after all about a month and a half later 3000 people would be saved after one sermon!!) So, we don’t know…but we do know that the Spirit of God was active in showing people who Jesus was.
What was so special... so different about this particular execution? This one was unlike any other because on this particular day, Jesus the Christ, the very Son of God fulfilled the redemptive plan of God by purchasing salvation for every chosen child of God. All praise and honor and glory and power be unto Him forever and ever! Amen!!
