For the love of mankind

By Rev Ola Oladejo

"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgement And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken." Isaiah 53: 7, 8 (NKJV)

Some years ago, I watched a chilling film, The Passion of the Christ, depicting the gruesome crucifixion of Jesus Christ. He was so bruised in the film that a Roman soldier supervising the crucifixion complained, "But we didn't say you should kill him by whipping." For his men had whipped Jesus with sadistic fury. All over the body of Jesus were crude red lines, the heinous results of flesh tearing Roman whip. Everywhere was covered with blood as the Lord marched to the climax of the gory events, to the cross and His death on the cross. The producers of the film received commendation for the film, though nobody doubted the impossibility of capturing the full extent of Christ's agony and suffering in reality on that cross.

The events in the film were not fiction but actual depiction of historical occurrence which ushered in salvation and changed the destiny of mankind forever. Abou 2015 years ago, Christ completed the work of redemption by going to the cross bearing the sins of the world and making Atonement for them. As we celebrate Easter this year, I will like us to take another look at the above quoted scriptures, a critical aspect of the redemption story.

Calmness in the face of provocation

I must confessed that the more I examine the prophecy by Prophet Isaiah, the more shocking and profound they are. How and why should someone who valued life could be so quiet being led to be killed for what he did not do? The Ethiopian top official who read a copy of the passage in Acts 8:32-33 was dumbfounded. No one peruses the scripture who will not be affected by the figure in the story, his forbearance in the face of provocation, the suffering He went through, His equanimity in the face of blood hounds baying for His blood and to the human reason, the apparent contradiction in events being described. He is the King yet He allowed Himself to be treated as a common criminal. To cap it all to learn that the suffering was not because of His wrong doings but for our sins and transgressions, as His innocence was apparent to all.

Our Saviour, the Lord Jesus is the one likened to a sheep or lamb in the account. The prophecy came from Prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament. The actual coming to pass of the the prophecy were recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, New Testament books of the life of Jesus. He was on the way to the cross to atone for the sins of mankind and for our redemption.

Did He know of the agony ahead of Him?

I asked myself as I read the accounts, 'Was He aware of the mockery, abuse, the pain, agony, torture, the Roman whip and so on that would attend His way to death on the cross? Did he know beforehand of the humiliation, gruesome nails, that He would be His on the cross for as much as six hours in debilitating pain carefully calculated to make Him curse the day He was born? Did He know He would fall into the hands of those who were masters at inflicting pain? So many questions that raised through my mind. In other words did He run into these suffering by accident or become A Man of sorrow and a man acquainted with griefs by happenstance?

To my horror, the answer I found in the Word of God is that there was a plan by God that Christ was part of. He knew about all the shame, denial, rejection, suffering and the agony inseparable from the cross. The momentous events are not products of chance but of deliberate plan of God to deliver mankind. The evidence for these are all over the Bible. Jesus knew what was ahead of Him, the fire of the cross. John 13:1 confirms;"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." Matthew 26:1,2 "Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, that He said to His disciples, 'You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Luke 12:50 "But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished."

Jesus' awareness of the cross and what it involved, the suffering and indescribable agony was not in doubt. Yet from the scriptures, His attitude was a resolute, "Come on cross I am not afraid of you." I pray that God will give you this kind of courage to face the challenges of destiny in Jesus name.

Born for purpose

The prophecy by Isaiah many Centuries ago was about Him and He openly declared the fulfilment of it in Him. He was the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world. He was named Jesus for the same purpose. Moreover in John 18:37, He declares; " ...For this cause I was born, and for this cause I came into this world, that I should bear witness to the truth. ". 

 

Did Jesus have any choice?

I will answer that question with some explanations. He had options, one was he could chose to destroy His enemies and avoid the cross. He had the power to annihilate His persecutors, the wicked council of the Jews, Pilate and his troops. Do you remember what He said when the disciples rose to fight during His arrest and in the process cut off someone's ear with the sword? Prevailing on his disciples to sheath their swords, He asked,  "Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How could the scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen thus." (Matthew 26:53-54). He could command the destruction of His enemies. But that would mean he would not go through the cross.

He could also decide on creating new sets of human beings. John the Baptist told us plainly, " For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones"(Matthew 3:9). If God can replace us with stones, it says so much about how much we are worth without the Saviour in our lives. He could raise children for Himself by other means, yet He did no such thing. While there were options for Jesus He approached the cross as if there was no other way out except by way of the cross.

Doing the will of Father

For Him to do the will the Father takes precedent over any other thing. Humiliation, suffering, pain, self esteem, difficulties or His own plans cannot stop the will of Father from being done. No amount of temptation, opposition, hindrance and obstacle can prevent Him from obeying Father to the last letter. These include His ambitions, desires and aspirations, even opportunities. All must bow to the will of the Father.

"Then I said, 'Behold, I come In the scroll of the book it is written of me I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart" (Psalms 40:7-8)

The singular thing on the Lord's mind was to do God's will by completing the work of salvation. As far as He was concerned, He must carry out what has been written. To prepare for this He had allowed God's law to dwell in His hearts. For the will of the Father has always been expressly stated in His words. Earlier, we have made reference to how he stopped His disciples from violence during His arrest, saying, "How then could the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happened thus?." Matthew 26:54. Christ wanted to see the scriptures fulfilled and He would do whatever that must be done to achieve that. The virtue of obedience and in His case obedience even unto death on the cross was critical was a lifestyle.

All surpassing love

All these pales into insignificant when we gain access to the big heart of our LORD. There we find the motivating factor for all He endured and went through for us, God's love for mankind. The special love has been evident since the beginning, when He created, man in His own image and gave him dominion over the works of His hands. From the way God blessed Adam, the first man, put him in the garden of Eden to dress it, the indescribable love had been so strong. "You have made him a little lower than the angels", says Psalms 8:5, "And You have crowned him with glory and honour." Hear our God in Jeremiah 31:3; "The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying; Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore, with loving kindness I have drawn you."

The realisation of the God's affection helps to understand why He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.(John 3:16) His love for us compelled Him to endure the cross for our sake. 

 

The ones Jesus went to the cross for

The tomb of Jesus Christ

In these days of self love, you will shudder that Christ could go to the cross for the kind of people He died for. They are those facing condemnation, the vile, the wicked, the unbeliever, the sinner, captives either lawful or otherwise, those who have become estranged from the heavenly Father, those spiritually dead and those for physical death is a matter of time. The list is endless. They include all who follow in the footsteps of Adam, the first man through whom mankind fell into original sin. Adamic nature points to one direction for makind, that is hell. Space would not permit me to go on with the list. It included all born of the woman, the writer, the reader, their families, friends, relations, acquaintances, human beings of all races for all have fallen short of the glory of God and are badly in need of redemption.

Romans 5:6-8 "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God commended His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus died for the ungodly, the sinners, who are not deserving of it. He knew that except He went to the cross to satisfy the demands of heavenly justice we stand condemned for ever. So He went to the cross to ransom and redeem us and bring us back to God in reconciliation.

The point has been made clear He went to the cross fo you and for me. So the accounts of the events on Good Friday are so profound and so fundamental that no person in his right senses can ignore them. Every man is required to respond to it because our salvation could not have been possible without Jesus going through the cross. There the price of our sins was paid. You need to imagine if you were the one on the cross that day. Would you have survived? But our Lord took our place on that rugged cross.

You might be asking yourself why He was so smitten? Or like many who saw Him in his worst humiliation, naked on the cross, held there by nails and wondered why He was stricken that way the answer is that He did that for you. Your pain, He carried. Your agony He bored being wounded for your transgressions and being bruised, tortured, manhandled for our sins. To read this story or look at Him and despise Him is to despise your destiny, and choose the path of damnation. In Him on that cross is the change you need. Therefore you cannot continue to live without the one "who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification."(Romans 4:25) You must appropriate all He won for you. Come to Him who laid His life down for you today. Give your life to Him.

Rev Ola Oladejo is the Senior Pastor, Hundredfold Covenant Bible Church, 3rd floor, 142 Lawanson road, (Otunoba bus stop) Itire, Surulere Lagos Phone: 08023148846, Email: ola2dejo@gmail.com