Luke 23:44-46 - The Other Side of the Cross

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we continue to look at Luke 23. In the passage we'reexamining, Jesus has been on the cross for three hours. In verses 44 through46, we read about the last three hours of the cross. Aswe look at this passage, Jesus had just spoken to the thief on the cross,telling him, "Today, you will be with Me in paradise." Even asJesus is dying on the cross, paying the price for our sins, He is thinking ofothers and has compassion on the sinners all around Him. Going back to verse27, we need to remember that as Christ was being led to His crucifixion, "agreat multitude of the people followed Him as He was carrying His cross toCalvary." Many of us believe, that Jesus was crucified somewhereright outside the Damascus Gate, across the road, next to a hill with the underlyingrocks that seem to form the face of a skull.  Justoutside the Damascus Gate in ancient Jerusalem, there were three roads that cometogether: one that comes from Damascus, one from Jericho, and the other fromJoppa. This was one of the busiest places in the city, a great marketplacewhere people came together, a place of transportation. Even today, it remains amajor transportation hub for different parts of Israel and still one of thebusiest places next to Old City Jerusalem. It makes sense that the Romansoldiers would execute criminals where the biggest multitude of people wouldgather and pass by, to put fear into those who committed crimes. Wemust also keep in mind that what our Lord accomplished on the cross was aneternal transaction between Him and the Father. We could call this chat, "TheOther Side of the Cross" because the cross was as much for God asit was for us. We see it from the street level, from our need and perspective,as He died for us. But God sees it from the other side as Jesus died to satisfythe wrath of God for sin. We need to remember that God is holy, righteous, andjust and He cannot forgive us just because He loves us.  Godis a God of love, but the only answer for Him to grant us forgiveness for oursins was that a payment had to be made for our sin. You will see this clearlyin the prophecy of Isaiah 53, which I encourage you to read in its entirety. Noticeparticularly these verses: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried oursorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But Hewas wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; Thechastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah53:4-5). It says, the Jesus was “smitten by God…”.  Thelast verses of the Isaiah 53 are very clear that God was involved in the deathof His Son: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shallprolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. Heshall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge Myrighteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. ThereforeI will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil withthe strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered withthe transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for thetransgressors” (Isaiah 53:10-12). Asyou read these verses and you realize that God was looking down upon the crossthat day two-thousand years ago. The only place our sins and the sins ofhumanity could be paid for was right there, as Jesus, the perfect, sinless,stainless Lamb of God, died and bore the bruising of God upon Him. This is whatthe Apostle John was writing about in 1 John 2:2: “And He Himself is thepropitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”This means God’s just wrath was satisfied with Christ sacrifice! Praise theLORD! Haveyou thanked the Lord for your great salvation today?