Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Jesus was born with a cross in his future so that there would be such a thing as forgiveness for sin.
I have had some really bad jobs. One Christmas vacation, I worked as a garbage collector, and between the cold, snow, and rodents, it wasn’t my best celebration of the season. I worked one summer during college as an intern at a factory, cleaning the rust off exhaust systems with acid. I worked for a while as a “brickie,” carrying concrete blocks to masons and mixing concrete when it was so cold outside that we had to add antifreeze to it to keep it from freezing before it could be used. I worked one job that was so dirty my mom made me undress on the back porch before I was allowed to enter our home. But the thing that made those jobs tolerable was knowing I wouldn’t be doing them forever. They were hard, uncomfortable, unattractive, and physically exhausting, but I knew they were temporary.
I regularly think with sympathy about the people who have those kinds of jobs as their life's work. I have deep appreciation for them; our lives are made better by their work. But when I think of them, I almost always think of someone else. I think of the one and only perfect person who ever lived whose job description was to die. Think about that for a moment. What if you knew that you would not just do dirty and uncomfortable work for a season or have a hard labor job for your whole life, but that the ultimate purpose for your existence was to die a cruel and unjust death?
What was in Jesus’s future was not a surprise to him. The shocking nature of his capture, trial, and death was not a personal defeat. It was not a failure of God’s plan. It was not a triumph of the enemy. No, the death of Jesus on the bloody cross was a personal victory and a public indication of the complete success of God’s plan! From before his first breath on Earth, the plan was that Jesus would enter this broken world, suffer its brokenness, live a completely perfect life in every way, and then die on that cross.
There simply was no other way. Because of the moral rebellion of sin, righteousness had to be accomplished, and an acceptable penalty had to be paid. Christ’s death and resurrection had to happen so the righteousness of Jesus could be given over to the account of those who could never be righteous on their own, and so that forgiveness could be granted because a suitable penalty had been paid for their sin. In this way, sinners could be forgiven and accepted into relationship with God in a move of amazing grace that did not at the same time violate God’s justice. Listen to how Isaiah talks about this plan - reading Isaiah Chapter 53.
"Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment, he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."
What was in Jesus’s job description as Savior?
• to be despised and rejected
• to have a life of sorrow and grief
• to bear our griefs and carry our sorrows
• to be stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God
• to be pierced for our transgressions
• to be crushed for our iniquities
• to take our chastisement
• to be wounded for our spiritual healing
• to carry our iniquity
• to be oppressed without defending himself
• to endure oppression and judgment
• to be cut off
• to have a grave with the wicked
• to experience anguish of soul
• to pour out his soul to death
• to be numbered with transgressors
This is what your Savior was appointed to do. This was his redemptive job description. This was the only way for forgiveness to be granted, eternal life to be given, righteousness to be granted, acceptance with God to be guaranteed, and saving grace to be unleashed. He came willingly, and did it all without the faintest grumble or the smallest complaint. Jesus knew that his suffering would be temporary, but the fruit would be eternal, and he was willing.
During this Lenten season, stop and consider the depth of the love of your Lord, that he endured this for you. He suffered the unthinkable so we could experience the unreachable. Now that’s amazing grace!
GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions
1. What was your worst job?
2. How do you think knowing he had come to die affected Jesus’s life and ministry?
3. How does the purposeful sacrifice of Christ transform your approach to your work and ministry life?
Reread Isaiah 53, and meditate on all that Christ did for you.
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