Friend, for a moment, come with me back two thousand years ago to the hill called “Calvary” just outside the city of Jerusalem. Here we see a man who has been beaten within an inch of His life now carrying His own cross up this hill, being jeered on by an angry crowd of people. As He reaches the top, entirely exhausted mentally, physically and spiritually, He is laid down on top of the cross and soldiers pound nails into His hands and feet. Then they lift that cross up and set it into its socket, and there hangs the most loving Man to have ever lived, the Man who had done nothing but good His entire life.
If you look closely you will more clearly see what is happening. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.“ (Romans 3:25 NIV). Do you see this? God is presenting His own Son as a sacrifice to atone for your sins and mine. Jesus is making atonement for your sin through His own death. He is nullifying your wrongs, taking your guilt on Himself, bearing your sins in His own body on the tree, removing the curse from you and making you right with God. He is doing all this because He loves you dearly. The cross is your Day of Atonement and your Year of Jubilee!
And do you see the blood flowing down from His thorn-crowned head? Do you see his body is covered in blood from head to toe, that it is flowing from all His wounds and the beatings He received? There’s a reason for that: “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV). Jesus is redeeming you on the cross: that is, He is buying you back, paying the ultimate price of His own life’s blood, His last gasp of air, His final heartbeat, all for you! He is the Lamb of God who takes away your sin on the cross, removing it from you as far as the East is from the West (Psalm 103:12). He is doing this because He dearly loves you (1 John 3:16)! The cross is your Redemption and your Year of Jubilee!
The cross is how Jesus proclaims “good news to the poor”, by showing us that He went to the cross to pay our debt of sin, so for you and me right now, our debt is canceled! Good news for us poor people: Jesus is our Jubilee!
Question 3. Have you acknowledged that you once had a debt of sin and that Jesus paid it off for you? If so what thoughts do you have about the payment He made on your behalf?
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Tori writes, "Yes, I once had a huge debt of sin. I was so imperfect. I was such a sinner. My life was wretched and the darkness would have sucked me up never to be redeemed. But Jesus, he came. He loved me enough, that I am able to say all those words in past tense. As my heart changes, I get more convicted when I fall, but this is also reminding me Jesus paid my death, I should not feel guilt and let it defeat me, I repent, and accept His grace and pray he continues to edify and sanctify me for His glory. I know have a purpose, a future and a hope because of Jesus. I believe it!"
Harris writes,"Usually when someone pays a debt for somebody else I would ask why? Why this payment for debt? What the Bible tells us is that he did it because He loves me."
Claude writes, "I'm grateful Jesus died on the cross for me and gave himself for me. I'm excited about this. My debt of sin is immense. I constantly have to fight sin in my life. We never arrive."
Rachel writes, "I struggle to accept that someone can pay off my debt completely. I can understand if it's partial, but in life it seems as though I continually trying to pay things back and cover all my debts, to people, to credit card companies, to my parents. But Jesus paid off my most important debt, my debt to God. And it cost him every ounce of blood in his body, every breath, every sermon, every tear. I never thought of his sacrifice like that."
The cross is where Jesus sets captives free, returning us to our original Master, God the Father. He did this through the purchase price of His own life’s blood. “You were bought at a price!” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Jesus is our Jubilee!
Question 4. From what we’ve studied today about the cross, how did Jesus set you free from sin’s penalty and power?
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Harris writes, "He paid the dept Himself on the cross. he became my darkness my slavery that I may be free today."
Claude writes, "Jesus set me free though dying on the cross for my sin. I owe God for sinning against him. God created me I owe Him everything. His death on the cross was the sacrifice he made to pay my debt to God."
Rachel writes, "Sin's penalty is guilt, shame, condemnation and ultimately death. But Jesus experienced all of that so that I wouldn't have to. That is why I am free to go and experience the opposite of that: joy, confidence, glory, life and the reward of heaven."
Tori writes, "He died for me. He sacrificed Himself. He came down and rescued me. And yes, he loves me! He loves me, He is my Hero. I have a future and a hope because of Him. It is a shame for me to accept that I must live in darkness, when I look at the cross I see that I do not have to, because my savior has defeated it and promises to carry it and carry me through it all. So let all the lies of the enemy be defeated in my life through the mighty blood of Jesus. Amen."