JESUS FINISHED ALL THINGS THROUGH HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS
By Pastor Paulus Budiono
Lemah Putro, Sunday, November 22, 2020
Shalom,
We will always exalt the cross of Christ because on that cross He has finished redeeming all men’s sins. We also believe that the Lord is omnipresent wherever we are. Although our finiteness is hindering us from seeing Him face to face, only by His grace we are still able to feel His presence. Thus, we should keep listening to the Word of God diligently for the sake of our spiritual growth (Romans 10:17). In the same notion, the Apostle John urged that blessed are those who read, listen and keep the Word (Revelation 1:5).
We don’t need to grumble, feel sad and worry in facing COVID-19 situation nowadays, but let’s learn to become closer to Jesus Christ and His cross that has the power to strengthen us. Who was near to His cross when He was crucified? Mary, Jesus’ mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene and John, the disciple whom He loved (John 19:25-26).
What happened on the cross as it was pre-Sabbath day? For the Jews, Sabbath is a great day; therefore, it wasn’t allowed for corpses to stay hanging on the cross, but they must be dismounted. To fasten the death of those who were on the cross, their legs were broken (v. 31). Coming to Jesus’ cross, the soldiers saw that Jesus had died, so they didn’t break His leg, but one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out (vv. 33-34).
What do the following verses say? “And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced” (vv. 35-37).
The Apostle John wanted us to believe in his two testimonies that are true; they are:
- Not one of His bones shall be broken. It’s the fulfillment of the scripture in the Old Testament which writes about the law about Passover that not even one bone must be broken (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:21) → the past.
The Apostle John saw His teacher died helplessly; later, He recorded it in the Gospel of John and he wanted us to believe in his writing not with an intention of making us admire his writing proficiency for who was he to ask for such thing? He was simply an uneducated fisherman from Galilee which was a common area, not as urban as Judea and Jerusalem. Considering his background, do we still believe in his writing? His testimony was true and he declared the purest truth that couldn’t be found in the world.
John saw three crosses at Golgotha. First, the cross of the criminal who perished because he rejected Jesus. Second, the cross of the other criminal who got the promise of salvation while he himself couldn’t provide that salvation. Third, the cross of Jesus that fulfilled the Scripture about how His bones would remain intact and not broken. This proves that the Law and the worldly rules of breaking the leg to fasten death didn’t work on Jesus.
Did John recklessly write “None of His bones were broken” just because he admired his teacher? The Jews agreed to break Jesus’ leg to hasten His death to keep the holiness of Sabbath. That’s why John wrote about this to convince people about the fulfillment of the Scripture. We need to know that all of Jesus’ actions, behaviors, gestures and good works are written in the Bible. In line with that, after Jesus rose from the dead, He reminded His disciples that what the Law of Moses, the books of the prophets and the book of Psalm wrote about Him had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44-45). In the Book of Moses it’s recorded how God brought the Israelites out of Egypt with the blood of Passover lamb (Exodus 12:7) and they were warned to eat the lamb’s flesh that night and burn what was left (v.10), and not to break any of the bones (v.46).
Application: We indeed don’t see the cross with our own eyes, but we should have the faith of eating the “Passover meat” in one house and in unity, which means we as one family gather together and have the same faith in Jesus, the savior of the world, by listening to the Word of God.
Pay a closer attention on this one: Don’t think that once we believe in Him, then, we will be safe forever! After leaving Egypt, the Israelites built the Tabernacle and celebrated Passover in the first month of the second year (Numbers 9:1-2). Once the Tabernacle was established, the rules of worshiping God were instituted. However, in their journey to the Promised Land, the Israelites hurt God’s heart with their grumbles; as the result, all of the old generations died in the desert except Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14:27-30).
Application: We should do our worship with all of our hearts – we must repent and highly value the sacrifice of Christ, the Passover Lamb, and be willing to have His Words sanctified us so that we may enter the heavenly Canaan.
“Bone” refers to strength, for example: a wife who causes shame is like rottenness in her husband’s bones (Proverbs 12:4); envy is rottenness to the bones (Proverbs 14:30); a good report makes the bones healthy (Proverbs 15:30); pleasant words are healthful to the bones (Proverbs 16:24); a broken spirit dries the bones (Proverbs 17:22).
Implication: Jesus has risen and is now looking for His “rib” to make her His bride – the bride of the Lamb.
- They will look on Him whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:10; Revelation 1:7) → the future.
Who are “they” here besides the two soldiers (the gentiles) and the Jews who looked on Him whom they pierced? The Apostle John quoted Zechariah 12:10 that He would pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Him whom they pierced. Even though the Jews rejected Him, Jesus kept looking for David’s descendant and the descendant of the Jews.
This prophecy of Zechariah will surely take place. Didn’t we (as gentiles), before knowing Jesus, also reject Him as if we pierced His heart? Nevertheless, having been believers, we received forgiveness and this forgiveness keeps working every time we confess our sins (1 John 1:9) so that we can live in holiness by His Words (Hebrews 4:12) and His blood (Hebrews 13:12) in waiting for His coming.
Furthermore, Revelation 1:7 writes, “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.”
Illustration: man’s body consists of bones that take form a skeleton functioning to protect the important organs. There are various types of bones in their respective functions. If one of them breaks or fractured, it will bother the whole body that it can’t do the activities normally.
The Jews and also we, the gentiles, who rejected Jesus, deserve to have our bones broken like the two criminals/sinners who were crucified on the left and right side of Jesus, but He died, without having His bones broken, to save the sinners.
Before passing away, Jesus, being on the cross, told His mother, “Mother, this is your son.” Here acceptance as a family between Mary – Jesus’ mother, and John – His beloved disciple, took place. The gentiles who once were far off have been united with the Jews as one God’s family and being fitted together, grows as God’s holy temple (Ephesians 2:13-21).
Jesus will come again, and all nations, with their sophisticated technology, will easily discern the event. Do we still believe that the Bible which we read is the Word of God? Moreover, are we ready to welcome Him as the heavenly Bridegroom?
In reality, in this pandemic season many churches tend to use the Bible only as a religious book from which they look for verses of protection and comfort, so they no longer focus on His second coming. Meanwhile, Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, who is, who was and who is to come (Revelation 1:8, 22:13). He will come soon (v. 16) as the Bridegroom who is welcomed by His bride (v. 17).
The unity between the Heavenly Bridegroom and His church as His bride is impossible to take place if we don’t want to be Christians who accept Jesus and all of His righteousness from the beginning to the end.
At last, no one’s able to enter Heaven without going through Jesus and without the leading of the Holy Spirit who can take everyone to all righteousness. Through His death on the cross, He has finished everything. We must believe and receive Him who has the power to forgive our sins! If in the beginning we chose to come to the world of forgiveness of sins, now we will be entering the world of sanctification, and later we will be brought into the world of eternity together with Jesus – the Lamb and the Bridegroom. Amen.
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