Lately I have been shocked to realize that many Seventh-day Adventists do not realize that the death of Jesus does not provide salvation for repentant sinners. When explained there is no argument against the truth. For some reason, there is a knowledge of the truth, but it was not clear in their minds. This lack of clearly understanding keeps the soul from understanding how much God loves us. It is grace that breaks the hard heart. Anything that interrupts the extent of grace, the depth of pain experienced by our heavenly Father and His Son will interfere with our understanding the extent of their sacrifice on our account. When Jesus cried out "it is finished" he died. That moment of death brought peace to our Savior, but putting an end to His suffering is not what saves us.
As Jesus passed the gate of Pilate's court, the cross which had been prepared for Barabbas was laid upon His bruised and bleeding shoulders. Two companions of Barabbas were to suffer death at the same time with Jesus, and upon them also crosses were placed. The Saviour's burden was too heavy for Him in His weak and suffering condition. Since the Passover supper with His disciples, He had taken neither food nor drink. He had agonized in the garden of Gethsemane in conflict with satanic agencies. He had endured the anguish of the betrayal, and had seen His disciples forsake Him and flee. He had been taken to Annas, then to Caiaphas, and then to Pilate. From Pilate He had been sent to Herod, then sent again to Pilate. From insult to renewed insult, from mockery to mockery, twice tortured by the scourge,--all that night there had been scene after scene of a character to try the soul of man to the uttermost. Christ had not failed. He had spoken no word but that tended to glorify God. All through the disgraceful farce of a trial He had borne Himself with firmness and dignity. But when after the second scourging the cross was laid upon Him, human nature could bear no more. He fell fainting beneath the burden.
Human nature could bear no more, yet this was not enough to save us.
All was oppressive gloom. It was not the dread of death that weighed upon Him. It was not the pain and ignominy of the cross that caused His inexpressible agony. Christ was the prince of sufferers; but His suffering was from a sense of the malignity of sin, a knowledge that through familiarity with evil, man had become blinded to its enormity. Christ saw how deep is the hold of sin upon the human heart, how few would be willing to break from its power. He knew that without help from God, humanity must perish, and He saw multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help.
Upon Christ as our substitute and surety was laid the iniquity of us all. He was counted a transgressor, that He might redeem us from the condemnation of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart. The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. All His life Christ had been publishing to a fallen world the good news of the Father's mercy and pardoning love. Salvation for the chief of sinners was His theme. But now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father's reconciling face. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was this agony that His physical pain was hardly felt.
Yet, it was not enough to save you and me.
Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Saviour could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror, or tell Him of the Father's acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father's wrath upon Him as man's substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.
Surely all that happened on the cross ought to be enough for our salvation. But, it was not. His whole life was one of suffering. From His birth to the cross, Jesus was suffering on our account, and His Father watched it all. What about the night before, when Jesus sweat blood? Why must He suffer so very much? Why did He need to tred the wine press alone?
No, it is not enough.
The Father was with His Son. Yet His presence was not revealed. Had His glory flashed forth from the cloud, every human beholder would have been destroyed. And in that dreadful hour Christ was not to be comforted with the Father's presence. He trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. In the thick darkness, God veiled the last human agony of His Son.
Enough? No.
At the ninth hour the darkness lifted from the people, but still enveloped the Saviour. It was a symbol of the agony and horror that weighed upon His heart. No eye could pierce the gloom that surrounded the cross, and none could penetrate the deeper gloom that enshrouded the suffering soul of Christ. The angry lightnings seemed to be hurled at Him as He hung upon the cross. Then "Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" As the outer gloom settled about the Saviour, many voices exclaimed: The vengeance of heaven is upon Him. The bolts of God's wrath are hurled at Him, because He claimed to be the Son of God. Many who believed on Him heard His despairing cry. Hope left them. If God had forsaken Jesus, in what could His followers trust?
Now, is it enough? No.
The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars; those feet so tireless on ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head pierced by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe. And all that He endured--the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father's face--speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, It is for thee that the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life,--offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to thee.
He, the Sin Bearer, endures the wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes sin itself.
Why? Why? Why? Because it is by His stripes that we are healed. Grace is more than a word, it is the power that transforms sinners into saints. But, while we are surrounded by grace it does us no good unless we allow it into our hearts. Thus, it would be well to spend a thoughtful hour a day contemplating the life of Jesus, especially the closing scenes that we have just witnessed. Here is found the grace that saves. All heaven rejoiced when Jesus died. And so ought we since the death of Jesus finally brought peace to our Savior. His death was only sleep. He was not eternally separated from His Father. It is what Jesus suffered that saves all who will love the Lord our God with the whole heart, holding nothing back. All who reject His great love will suffer for every sin they ever committed. The wicked will be brought up from the grave to suffer death by fire. All will suffer burning until justice is satisfied. Satan will burn the longest.
There are those who rise up against this truth. In so doing they diminish the sufferings of Jesus. Justice demands that Jesus suffer for the sins of the whole world. That means the pain that each sinner must experience had to be suffered by Jesus. Burning by fire is painful. Each will receive according to what was done in the flesh whether good or bad. The sinner who rejects grace will not burn for eternity, but burn he will until justice is satisfied. This answers the question, why did Jesus have to become "sin itself," and suffer so very much. It was for our salvation.
God does not give us grace for tomorrow. Each day we must feed upon Jesus, we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. We are a forgetful people. When we do not spend time with Jesus beholding His grace, we default back to our fallen nature and can do no good thing, we have no protection from sin. We must maintain our connection with Jesus for then we partake of His divine nature giving us two natures. The divine nature enables us to keep our fallen nature down. As the Apostle Paul tells us, he kept his body (flesh) under. We must die daily. Again, it would be well to read this chapter frequently. By beholding His glory (His character) we are changed into His image (character). Read 2 Cor. 3:18. Then we will not only be able to give the three angels' message, but we will truly reflect the character of our God which is what it means to "fear God and give glory to Him." Then we will hasten the soon coming of our Lord and Savior.
