Grace and the Efficacy of The Cross - Every Bible believing Christian should know what the word efficacy means, especially in the day we're living in. Efficacy means (a) the desired results, (b) the intended purpose or (c) the ability and competance in achieving a purpose. What is the efficacy of Grace? Or, what is the efficacy (what God has purposed to be achieved in His people through the substitutionary death of His son) of the cross? Christians should seek to know God's design and purpose in the death of Christ. What is supposed to be the real result achieved by the terrible sufferings of the Son of man? Is it merely forgiveness or is it the mroal transformation of the whole man? In this study of Titus 2:11-14 we will show from the Bible what the efficacy of the cross is and what Grace works in God's great plan of salvation.
Godliness is the purpose God will achieve in those who love Him and have Teaching Grace in their lives.
At the banks of Jordan John Baptist hesitated when Jesus asked to be bapatized. Jesus said to John, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. It is the same word here as in Matthew 5:17.
Jesus fulfilled all righteosuness but we don't call Him a legalist.
The Good Works Of The Christ Life - The false free grace teaching tells the Christian that salvation is entirely the work of Christ and we have nothing to do but "believe." They will tell you there are no works, no initiatives on the parts of the believer in the doing of good works, and no committment to keep the moral commandments of Scripture. They will tell you that as a Christian no works of your own have a part in the process of salvation. That is a lie that contradicts every Scripture passage that speaks of good works in the New Testament! If I am a born again Christian with Christ dwelling in my heart, I will have good works! They are not "mine" or "my own" good works but the good works of Christ who dwells in me.
Good Works Are The Natural Fruit Of Grace - Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:4-5
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.
The teaching that "Its all by grace, just believe in Jesus and let His righteousness be the only righteosuness you have," eliminates the response and initiative of the believer. It replaces the actual deed of righteousness with a claim of dependancy on Christ not intended or taught in the Word of God. It is a dependancy on the good works of Christ to save me when He has given me power to do righteousness of my own by His Spirit.
We become weary of hearing liberals refer to the lifestyle of holiness people as being their own "good works" as though they were not the good works that Christ produces in a dedicated life. If I am saved and sanctified then all the good works I have in my life and all of the obedience I show toward the commandments of Christ and the teaching of the apostles is not good works of "my own"! They are the works of Christ motivated by the Spirit of Christ that dwells in me.
Heresy is often taught by very intellegent men who have failed to prove their ideas by taking the proper time to compare them with all Scriptures before propogating them. Then when they are challenged and their ideas are found to be flawed, then force their ideas by twisting Scriptures that conflict with their theories. This statement that my righteousness is only attained by the righteousness of Christ is Biblically true and supported by many Bible verses but they ignore other Bible verses and create a gospel scenario of their own that excludes good works AFTER THE CROSS and obedience to moral instruction given in the New Testament.
Any doctrine of grace that decrys or plays down the responsibility of the believer's obedience to the moral commandments of Christ and the moral teachings of the apostles is of the Devil. The Bible warns the church against this very teaching of false grace that promises salvation apart from the good works faith in Christ produces, and especially the Biblical call to personal holiness and separation. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 4. There are four key words in this Scripture that need our attention:
CREPT - This word means to "slip in along side stealthily, unnoticed." On the authority of God's Word we deduct that teachers of false doctrine are "creeps." Those leading the church away from the Biblical message of personal holiness, separation from the world and godliness by their teaching are those who have crept into the church to destroy the apostle's teaching of godliness. They are creeps. All false profit$ are creeps according to the Bible.
UNAWARES - This is the only time this word (pareisduno) appears in the New Testament. It means to enter secretly, slip in stealthily; to steal in or creep in unnoticed. How can apostates come right into the midst of the church unnoticed? How? Its easy when the saints have based their judgment of a man by the brand of suit he wears and the level of his education. When the church loses its holiness, it loses its judgment of good character and the Devil has a hey-day loading the pulpits with educated smooth talkers. How? By losing our love for truth and purity the spirtual immune system of the church is destroyed.
UNGODLY MEN - This word ungodly (asebeia) literally means, impiety. Figuratively it refers to all kinds of wickedness, but we must not confuse the literal meaning with the figurative meaning of a word. If these men creeped into the church unnoticed then they were not wicked in the vile sense or they would have been quickly rejected. They were good enough to be tolerated and worm their way into a position of leadership and influence in the church. The word ungodly doesn't necessarily refer to an obvious religious rogue (although we have some of those too)! These will be very personable men loaded with charisma wearing expensive suits with lots of polish and a seminary training. Note: they crept in unawares - these are not scoundrels of the criminal type, they are going undetected as they ascend right into the middle of what's going on and no one seems to be discerning their corrupting influence on the church. The ungodly men who corrupt the church are not immoral swingers, they are sharp and well dressed with charisma ... bent on turning the church away from apostolic truth to following their teaching for their benefit.
LASCIVIOUSNESS - The word lasciviousness refers not only to the vices of skidrow, it comes from a root word (selges) meaning continent, or moderate, restrained, temperate. This noun Lasciviousness (aselgeia) means just the opposite, to be without self control, without proper moral constraint. In other words, these people gave no regard to the restraints put on the flesh nature by the Word of God - they block out the command BE YE HOLY, EVEN AS I AM, SAITH THE LORD. Flesh religion that wants to have the cake and eat it too, simply will not allow even God's Word to restrain it from its worldliness. They will devise a very logical and high sounding theories to eliminate our obligation to make a thorough and honest study of Scriptural godliness. A gospel that rejects the need of vital moral instruction as essential to salvation AFTER THE CROSS is the grace teaching of the apostates. Lasciviousness implies many things including insolence, audacity, presumption, wantonness, indecency, promiscuity and moral laxness. Jude is speaking to the church in this epistle. He is not comparing the behavior of these apostates with the behavior of the vilest sinner, he is comparing the behavior of the religious amoralists with the holiness of heaven. Worldliness in the church is a horrible departure from the God's Grace that is teaching us to deny undliness and worldly lusts!
Contradicting Jesus
DENYING - This word denying in Jude 4 does not mean rejection
of Christ, but a disregard of His Lordship. When followers of Christ fail
to regard His Lordship, it to deny credibility in what He says. (Read John
8:31) When Christ is Lord, His Word receives respect as being credible
and obeyed as a child (Matthew 18:4). The word reject, as used in Matthew
21:42 when Jesus spoke of the stone which the builders rejected (paraiteomai),
means to refuse, to shun, to spurn. The word Jude uses (arneomai) translated
denying, used to describe false teachers means to disregard or contrdict,
to not accept something offerred. The apostates do not reject Jesus - they
trifle with His Word and thus contradict His moral teaching, e.g., the
death of self; the moral commandments of Matthew 5 - 7; divorce and remarriage,
extravagance, the fear of God, contentment, sacrifice, separation, worldliness,
godliness, sanctification and many other such Biblical doctrines vital
to the perfecting of the saints. (2 Timothy 3:16-17) They want His redemption
offered AT THE CROSS, but not His MORAL TEACHING governing their flesh
AFTER THE CROSS!
The heresy of conditionless grace is taught by false teachers who think
the doctrine of godliness is a trivial thing. (Romans 1:18; 1 Timothy 1:4;
2:2, 10; 4:7-8; 6:3, 5-6, 11; 2 Timothy 3:12; Titus 1:1; 2:12; 2 Peter
1:3; 2:9; 3:11.) They have no time for morals and godliness, they are into
bigger things! They glorify God by building parachurch empires; they are
success oriented, they don't believe in the good works of personal holiness,
they're into the good works of superchurches and superevangelism. But what
good is a "super gospel" if it is not built on the power of personal Grace?
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THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TWO GOSPELS:
The Gospel of Godliness
The Gospel of Gain (1 Timothy 6:3-6)
If any man teach otherwise [Contrary to the moral teaching of God's Grace] ,and consent not to wholesome [hugiaino Used of Christians whose opinions are free from any admixture of error, of one who keeps the graces and is strong.] words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, [Matthew 5:16-48; 19:9,18; Luke 9:23.] and to the doctrine [Where is the doctrine of godliness in the Charismatic teaching? To teach the doctrine of godliness you must be separated from the world. Worldliness keeps a Christian from godliness and godliness is without worldliness. The worldly Christian has no dislike for the things of the world.] which is according to godliness; [When the church loses its emnphasis on the pursuit of holy character it results in all forms of malpractice, disorder and spiritual confusion as we can see from what Paul lists here.] He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting [Noseo, any ailment of the mind; to be taken up with such an interest in a thing as amounts to a disease, to have a intolerable fondness for something.] about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, SUPPOSING THAT GAIN IS GODLINESS: [There are two gospels mentioned in this text, (1) The Gospel of Godliness and (2) The Gospel of Gain. When we deviate from the truth of God's Word there is always a motive for commiting our treason against Christ.
The motive behind the Gospel of Godliness is to produce divine character in God's people.
The motive behind The Gospel of Gain is to achieve power through wealth. This motive of gain carries many other practices with it such as positivism, success motivation, business psychology and reverting to a professional style of entertainment, gaudiness and flash. This whole philosophy of show business and the cosmetic look is contrary to the love of God. In 1 Corinthians 13:4 the Word says of charity (agape love), charity vaunteth not itself (perpereuomai), a self display, employing excessive rhetorical and cosmetic embellishments in the display of self), is not puffed up. [TV preachers are constantly pressuring their viewing audience for money. These "shows" hardly ever have ordinary people as guests, but prefer the rich and the famous. These people draw large salaries, drive expensive cars, live in mansions, belong to expensive social clubs.
It is The Gospel of Gain and not The Gospel of Godliness. This we know, the only gospel that Jesus is the author of is the Gospel of Godliness!] from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:3-6
All of the confusion and distortions of Grace would end suddenly if we would make the distinction between the two sides of the cross. The doctrinal differences and confusion of the last few years is due to the fact our Bible colleges and seminaries simply do not make this doctrinal distinction. Has the church become so preoccuppied with gospel singers and entertainment and other carnal pleasures that it has no time for such dull things as pure doctrine?
Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. 1 Timothy 4:16
Grace AT THE CROSS was the mercy of God extended to us freely and
is our only righteousness. But with His righteousness comes His Spirit
invading the inner man, giving me the power to live a godly life!
Grace AFTER THE CROSS teaches us to be godly, and to be obedient
to the moral commandments of the Lord. To mix these two Graces and
confuse them as being the same ends up in many forms of error.
But in the crucifixion of Christ, the darkest event of heaven's eternal history we see God's Grace. Oh, how we see God's Grace! In the scenes of Calvary we see God doing something for man that man could not do for himself.
2. JUSTIFIER: UNMATCHED MERCY AT THE CROSS
We look again at the cross and see what seems to be a contradiction,
that while God had no mercy in carrying out the demands of divine justice
against sin, He was all the time showing mercy of such magnitude toward
the sinner that man through the ages has explored only to find more endless
wonders in it! But some things we do know, that blood (the source of
life) was the only propitiation that could legally atone for sin (the source
of death). But the man representing the human race had to be sinless in
order to return directly to God's presence. The only way such a sinless
man could exist, would be for God to indwell a human body, identify with
the human race undertaking all of the temptations that befall an ordinary
man so that he, as a man in every sense of human experience becomes very
man and all the time remaining very God. That, Sir, is the Grace part!
That He came without my knowledge or an invitation from the human race
and condescended to the sinners state to provide a way back into the presence
of God. that is indeed unmerited Grace! That he, through the cross makes
transformation available to me through the Holy Spirit and provides a new
and living way into the the presence of God - THAT IS GRACE BEYOND DEGREE!
The only way a legal atonment could be achieved without violating the perfect justice of God was precisely the way Christ provided it - in perfect compliance with all the immutable laws of the Kingdom. So He came and justified us yet remaining just! To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:26. God will not, God cannot deviate from perfect justice. If God was able to deviate from law do you not think He would have done it to avoid the sufferings of the cross? If God was to get soft on sin it would have been with His own Son and not with the sinner! Heaven had to intervene! There is no God beside our God that loves as He loves. It's as comprehensible to us as a man loving a colony of ants or a hornets nest.
All of this was provided AT THE CROSS - AT THE CROSS total obligation was on Christ. AFTER THE CROSS there falls an obligation upon the disciple depart from the sin that drew the Saviour from out of the Heavens to make us pursuers of righteosuness and holiness. It is one thing to be saved by Grace, and quite another thing to stay saved by Grace.
In Perfect Justice penalty is administered without mercy or cruelty in an exact and impartial way. The degree of penalty is always determined by the dregree of violation and is always equal and equivolent to the violation committed.
In the case of sinful man the violation was rebellion against divine
government! Kingdom law decrees that;
1. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so
also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Ezekiel 18:4
2. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is
the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Leviticus 17:11;
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without
shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22
Paul admonished us to Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) Note the word ashamed in this statement. It means to be rightly accused of wrongdoing and thus suffer reproach and embarrasment. How do we avoid this embarrasment? By rightly dividing the Word of God, by teaching it correctly.
Paul tells us what brings reproach to the church and then how to avoid it; by RIGHTLY DIVIDING the Word of truth! Rightly dividing is one word in the Greek (orthotomeo) taken from two other Greek words which mean to cut straight (correctly) and to cut into two pieces. RIGHTLY DIVIDING the Word of truth is what false teachers do not do! They arbitrarily run everything together. I call it "lazy exegesis." "The word study precedes rightly dividing and rightly so. Strong says of this word, rightly dividing, to dissect correctly the divine message. If we are to understand the Grace of God we are going to have to make this correct dissecting of it.
Grace is like many other doctrines of the Bible in this one respect, it must be divided between what it means AT THE CROSS and what it means AFTER THE CROSS. All doctrine is subject to that difference. When I am converted to Christ through repentance, that is Grace AT THE CROSS. oNCE i BECOME hIS DISCIPLE, His learner, that is Grace AFTER THE CROSS.
Grace toward the sinner is something quite different than Grace in the life of the saint.
Grace to the disobedient is a different kind of Grace than teaching Grace in the life of a disciple of Jesus. They are both Grace, but they have different functions and purposes.
Just as there is a difference between being sanctified AT THE CROSS and sanctification AFTER THE CROSS, so is there a difference between Grace AT and AFTER the cross. Just as Abraham was justified by faith in his first encounter with God when he believed God's promise, (Romans 4:1-3 with Genesis 15:5-6) and then later justified by works when he offered up Isaac (James 2:21 with Genesis 22:1-9). So there is a difference between Grace AT and AFTER THE CROSS that must be acknowledged if we are to achieve God's purpose of Grace.
There is Grace forgiving AT THE CROSS and then there is a another kind
of Grace for living AFTER THE CROSS These two operations of God's Grace
must be rightly divided and treated separately even though they are both
Grace.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9) Not of works, lest any man should boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
What The Carnal Mind Does To Biblical Grace - The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Romans 8 7). That is, the apostate thinks of God like an unregenerate man - He creates a god that defends his fleshpot theology.
Apostates Have Made Grace a Disgrace - They have no taste for moral excellence. If they did, it would be in the content of their message. They speak against the same social evils (Alcohol, drugs and abortion) as the world and call it "holiness." The moral message of their gospel is worldliness! They have twisted every one of the Bible doctrines to agree with their human concept of grace and "the freedom Christ brings from all of the do's and dont's of legalism." The grace they teach is a grace that offers freedom to the flesh. Brethren, be warned, when making confession of sins, we are coming to be forgiven of sins already committed against God. The free grace teaching implies that Christ forgives all sin, past, present and future. He does this when that sin is confessed and forsaken! The term forgiveness does not even apply to the rediculous pipe dream that we are forgiven something that has not happened. In 1 John the principle of confession is clear: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Forgiveness and remission of sin is only spoken of in Scripture as being granted AFTER repenting or admitting the sin. Wherever you find the words forgiveness or remission in the gospel passage, with very few exceptions, it is speaking of the sinner AT THE CROSS being forgiven, of sins that are past.
Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins THAT ARE PAST, through the forbearance of God; Romans 3:25.
The primary work of the cross is to remit the past sins of man releasing him from the sin that destroyed his fellowship with God, restoring that lost fellowship through regeneration. If that redeemed man returns to sin, his fellowship with God is again broken.
To better understand the Power of Grace at the cross we must get
close to the cross and there see a great paradox that reconciles forever
God's wrath and God's mercy.
To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:26
1. JUSTICE: No Mercy At The Cross.
2. JUSTIFIER: Unmatched Mercy At The Cross.
1. JUST: God without mercy brought wrath and judgment upon His own son who bore our sins on the tree to make an atonement for us! Justice was carried out, and there was NO MERCY when God poured His wrath out on the sin of man. Every demand of divine justice was executed firmly and without mercy!
But, you say, the Word of God declares God's mercy over and over again. How can we say that God showed no mercy upon His son as He hung on that ugly Roman cross? Many Scrip[tures attest to the mercy of God . . .
Pslam 57:10 For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.
Psalm 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
Let's go witht eh Jersusalem crowd now howling in the streets and go with them to brow of Gethsemene and get lost among the spectators who witnessed the scenes of the crucifixion, and see for ourselves the real story of the cross. Only at the cross will we see His magnificent mercy displayed as we also see His wrath without mercy!
We find ourselves first with the crowds in the garden, for this is where the agonies of atonement actually began. Let us see if we can find the mercy of God. Surely we will find it.
In The Garden - The first blood Jesus shed as the Lamb of God was not at the whipping post in the great halls of praetorium - it was in Gathsemene! The first agony this perfect man and perfect God suffered was not being smote and spit upon by the very people He was dying to redeem, it was in the garden he suffered the agony of agonies when for the first time the nature of God will make contact with sin! Throughout the eternities He bore the moral excellencies of the Godhead, having never known sin except to hate it and judge it with a perfect hatred of a holy God.
God hates sin!
This Christ who now groans in the darkness of the garden is the Christ who brought the waters of judgment on Noahs generation because wickedness was great in the earth, and that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6:5
This is the Christ that caused the Earth to swollow Korah for his sin.
This is the Christ that loves righteousness and hates iniquity! Hebrews
1:9
The Cup
He falls to ground agonizing, groaning, groaning out these searching words to the Father in the night air of Gathsemene, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. (Matthew 26:39) It was not the physical or mental anguish tearing at His soul, it was the "cup." Not the cross but the cup! The cup of sin which He must drink linking Himself with sin in order to fully identify with the sinner before taking God's wrath, our punishment. It was the thought of becoming sin . . . for us. The one thing He hated and had judged severely in Israel - now He would "become sin" and as a result be separated from the eternal Father and become the object of His wrath in the place of the sinner. This was what caused Christ to agonize. As torturous as the cross was, it was not the thing He feared and not the thing He prayed for to pass away. It was was the cup! The cup of sin, or the cup of God's wrath that would separate defile Him and separate Him from the love of the Father.
He was not the victim of men but gave Himself willingly to the death of the Roman cross. Hebrews 7:27; 9:9,14; 10:12.
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44) The prince of righteosuness, who for eternity had known only the moral excellence of a divine nature, was making first contact with sin! Taking our sins upon him, He lifted the cup of our iniquities to His sacred trembling lips and began to drink. He held it to His mouth and drank from that cup brimming with human iniquity until it was empty - He became sin for us! (2 Corinthians 5:21) This was His agony in the garden, Jesus taking our sin upon Him becoming our surety, stepping forth to become our sponsor, becoming my substitute, my penalty for sin. The price He had to pay demanded by the perfect justice of heaven's law, was to become sin for us - to take our sin and then receive our punishment as kingdom justice demands!
This would mean separation from the Father for the first time in the eternal existance of the Godhead! To become the sinners sponsor (surety) He had to pay the penalty justice demanded as one of us. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
Before the Romans and Jews came to arrest Him in the garden He suffered the most excruciating of all the afflictions He suffered in the act of atonement - in the garden before the arrest, the beating, the long and humiliating climb to Galgotha; before the nails were ever driven into His hands and feet, He was separated from the Father! He now had only the access to God of the depraved sinner. That intimacy of the Godhead was taken from Him when He became sin for us. All of the physical and mental agony awaiting Him on Galgotha were nothing compared to the torment of His spirit when He made contact with sin and was separated from the Father. The one who hates sin with a perfect hatred now has the sin of all men thrust upon Him! This was the deepest agony He could possibly suffer. Not only was He making contact with the thing His divine nature hated with a perfect hatred, but this would mean separation from God the Father.
For the eternities nothing had separated them. Now my sin had wrenched them apart. For he hath made him {to be} sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
The Taste Of Hell
It was in the Garden He made the decision to become sin for us! This
was Jesus' first taste of hell, His immeasurable anguish, the thing He
dreaded more than all the physical and mental tortures to follow - contact
with sin - the one thing His holy nature hated with perfect hatred.
Jesus shed the first drops of redeeming blood in the garden
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:44. The agony intensifies, the presence of sin now separates Him from God's presence. Depression and destitution press in upon Him. The mind of Christ is near panic as weaknesses He has never known or experienced sets in taking over His mental powers. He is suffering now both mentaly and in His spirit. He senses God's presence having departed. He struggles to rise on His hands and feels what He believes to be sweat running down His face, dropping to the ground, but it is blood. His agony so deep that the capillaries had burst sending blood oozing into the sweat glands. His body is trembling. The first blood shed was not atop Galgotha, but here in Gethsemene where the son of God took on our sin and suffered sepration from the Godhead. This was the blood of mental and spiritual agony, and the first redemptive blood He would shed in the atonment.
All we hear in song and sermon today is the mercy of God at the cross of Christ. But come and go with me to Galgotha, and tell me if you see the mercy of of God in its scenes. Let us find the Lord in the garden where He shed the first redemptive blood agonizing over His separation from God if He takes sin upon Himself. Let us see if there is mercy at the cross.
Praetorium - After Jesus was turned over to the Roman soldiers for execution they took Him to praetorium, to the court compound where prisoners were received and prepared for execution. They took Him into a large room where they flogged prisoners. Here they disrobed Him and tied His hands to the large iron ring mounted at the top of the flogging post. A Roman stood by holding a chain flog in one hand. The instrument used was made of fine chain strands with weights attached to the ends causing the chains to cut deep into the flesh as it landed across the back. Once Jesus' hands were secured to the post, the flogger stood at ready for a moment and then throwing the chain whip over his head he brought it down with a relentless force across the back of Jesus. His body flinched, each time chains came down imbedding into the flesh. Each stripe left a new laceration flowing with blood. Again and again the chains came swishing through the air and down across the back of God's Lamb. Each time the whip of chains imbeded in the flesh it was pulled across the flesh on the back to cut even deeper. By the time 39 of these stripes are given, the victims often lapse into shock or coma. There is excessive bleeding that weakens the victim
Tell me, do you see any mercy here?
Pain sets in as the back side of the body becomes covered with blood. All this time the sound of laughing and shouting jeers fills the room and echoes down the halls of Praetorium. As pain fills His body, insults and jeers fill His ears as His executioners howl insults at Him.
Abuse At The Common Hall - When the whipping is finished the weakened victim is led to the common hall in the court compound It is here the victim is intimidated and the mental affliction begins. The Roman soldiers attempt here to terrify the victim mentally. Scripture records that it was a large crowd that took part in this humiliation. The "band" in Mark 15:16 could have included all those in the compound of the court including the common workers. They had been taught to take part in these "just" executions. In this case the temple priests had endorsed this man's death and the hatred of the band was religious as well as political. They disrobe Him in front of the crowd and throw an old scarlet robe around Him, probably the discarded tunic of a Roman centurian. They blindfolded Him, smiting Him on the face demanding that He prophecy. Another came with a crown of thorns and pressed it down upon his head tearing the flesh until the blood run down into His eyes and onto His face. A rough hand of one of the soldiers thrust a reed into Jesus right hand forcing his fingers to hold it. Then they started laughing at Him as He stood there in humility, my wonderful Saviour! They bowed and hailed Him as King and spit on him, all the while laughing and mocking.
Do you see any mercy in all of this cruel injustice?
Into the Street - The Roman soldier in charge gave the command and the blindfold was removed, the robe was jerked from His shoulders. He was ordered to put on His own robe, and then He was gruffly pushed toward the door, down the halls of Praetorium and into the streets of Jersusalem where the mob waited. (Luke 23:27) He caught glimpses of His Mother and the faces of His disciples in the howling jeering mob through blood blurred eyes. It was His last time to see them before the crucifixion. It is very possible that He is so weak at this point that He is not able to bear the load of the cross. Each time He fell the crowd roared with glee. They conscripted a Cyrenian man from the crowd by the name of Simon to carry the cross. Jesus moves slowly, staggering,nover the narrow cobblestone street jeered by the crowd as He passes through them. Men women and children mill around Him jeering and laughing as they move to the top of a hill outside Jerusalem called Galgotha (the place of the skull).
Do you see the mercy of God in any of these cruelties?
Reaching The Place of Crucifixion - When they reach the place of the crucifixion weakness has increased until the victim can hardly stand. A terrible thirst sets in as Jesus reaches the top of Galgotha. One of the soldiers hands Him a vessel in which He thinks there is water. As His hands tremble He lifts the vessel to His lips to drink but suddenly spits it out as the bitterness of vinager and gall fills His mouth - a cruel joke. (Matthew 27:34) The jug is grabbed from His hand as the soldiers and crowd laugh and jeer. But the ordeal of the cross is only beginning... Two other men with criminal charges are there for execution also. One by one they nail three men to three wooden crosses.
Do you find God's mercy yet in the cross?
Facts About Roman Crucifixion - There were many ways in which crucifixions were carried out by the Romans. None of them were pleasant. Hurried, or mass crucifixions were carried out with less care and often on makeshift trees, e.g., Alexander the Great executed 2,000 captives of Tyre in this manner; and thousands of Jews were crucified when Titus finally took Jerusalem in the seige which Josephus describes in his history. It is claimed that the Romans had such a mass crucifixion outside Jerusalem that every tree within miles had been hewed down and brought to the place of the crucifixion. Some crosses were shaped like a T, others as huge pointed stakes driven into the ground at angles forming an X upon which the victims were stretched and crucified. It is indicated that the cross Jesus was crucified on was with overlapping cross beams at the top and over His head because there was a papiri placed "over His head" with the inscription, This is Jesus the king of the Jews.
The formal or less hurried public crucifixions were carried out like the one described here and in the manner described in the gospels. This would be considered a formal execution. We are aware that some writers insist Jesus was nailed at the wrists and not in the palms of the hands because nails in the hands would tear out the flesh and not keep the body impaled and secure for the many hours the victims writhed about on the cross. But history also contains records describing the Roman crucifixion as nailed in the palms of the hands and ropes tied securely at the elbow. We take the position that Jesus was nailed literally in the hands and that ropes, as commonly used on crucifixion victims, were used securing the arms to the upper beams. Because Jesus told Thomas to put forth his fingers into His "hands," we tend to lean toward this literal word in the literal hand the nails were driven. (John 20:25-27) There is a separate Greek word for wrist and also for arm. The inspired Scripture uses the term hand which in the Greek refers to hollowness, referring to the palm of the hand. Some say the wrist was considered to be part of the hand and anatomically this is the only way a nail would hold the weight of His body. If the nails were driven through the palm of the hand where nerve centers and tendons are located it would bring numbness and immediate discomfort to the victim.
There were pegs fastened to the upright beam of the Roman cross where the crotch of the victim rested the weight of the body through the long torturous hours of waiting for death. Some Roman crosses in ancient drawings show a board or crude wood tablet nailed on the upright beam for the victim to try and use as body support. (See also The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, P. 761, col. 2). There were many different kinds of crucifixions administered by the Romans. Some were only tied with no nails used while others did use nails. There was the starvation crucifixion where the accused was tied (no nails) and let to hang unattended until dead. But in Scripture we have enough description by those who witnessed the crucifixion of Jesus to let us know quite well which crucifixion He suffered.
Victims of the Roman crucifixion were normally crucified naked, but the Jews demanded of the Romans that Jewish victims of crucifixion be allowed to wear a loin cloth because of their strict teaching against nakedness. Emporeror Constantine had the cross abolished as an insult to Christianity after his "conversion" to Christianity.
The Crucifixion Begins - When they had disrobed Jesus down to His loin cloth, you can see the abuse He received from the beating and lashes. His body is covered with blood. The lashes are swollen and ugly on His back. The crowd stares to see the marks of His battering the Romans had dealt to His body at Praeatorium. It is no wonder He acts stunned and reels on His feet. A gruff hand grabs Jesus without warning throwing Him to the ground. Being completely off balance His head crashes to the limestone rocks beneath Him. Two Romans quickly grab Him by the arms dragging Him on the ground to the cross earby where they drop Him. A foot kicks at Him and He rolls over onto the beam of the cross. They place the crotch of His body over the peg that juts out from the main beam as they pull Him over the cross positioning His body for the nailing. The sharp splintery edges of the rugged wooden beam scrape across the lacerations covering His back. His head is ringing - it feels so good to be lying on the ground - still - then suddenly He feels one of the soldiers grabbing His arm and jerking it out onto the cross beam. The pain shoots up His arm, ropes drop over the arms and pulled tight. Another still moment passes, then suddenly He hears a dull thud, a sudden burning pain fills the palm of the right hand - there are several more sounds of the hammer and with each sound new pain. Someone is stepping over Him and now the same sounds and pain filling the hand and arm. The legs are grabbed at the ankles and yanked donward, the feet are held together and pressed against wooden block at the bottom of thr cross beam - He feels the nails piercing the feet, tearing through the flesh. The pain shoots up into the calves of the legs causing immediate cramping of the leg muscles. Blood is running from the fresh wounds - but the horrors of the cross has just begun!
Tell me Christian, do you see any mercy whatsoever in the death of Jesus? Look at this scene with me and tell me: Do you see mercy, or do you see the wrath of God being poured out upon the sins of the world? I can tell you that you see no mercey! This is God's wrath against sin! This God's judgment put upon the sinner! The penalty pronounced by the laws of the Kingdom is being meted out - without mercy!
The Cross Is Raised - After the victim is nailed to the cross they hoist the top of the cross upward until the bottom of the main beam slides into the hole dug to receive it. As the cross becomes upright it drops into the hole with a sudden jolt, tearing at the flesh in the feet and hands, the peg tears into the crotch. The victim flexes His body bracing Himself but to no avail. The jolt tears at the flesh and indescribable pain shoots through the body! As soon as the soldiers had finished placing the three crosses they settled under the middle cross to look over the belongings of their vivtims. To divide the clothes and possessions of crucifixion victims was part of their pay as Romans soldiers.
The Little Known Horror Of The Cross - There is a special torment that was part of the cross experience that is little known. The worst agony of the cross was the effort made to shift the weight of the body through the hours of waiting for death to come. Starting with the very early moments after the nailing, the victim begins the most excruciating effort to shift the weight of the body from one point of pain to another to relieve the body of pain at the three points the body is contacting the cross. His first instinct is to rest the weight of the body on the peg He is straddling, but soon discovers that the pain from the peg is as excruciating as the pain from the nails. But after a short while pain and numbness become so unbearable in the lower abdomen that He instinctively tries to shift the weight of His body from the pain in the crotch by pulling on the arms and hands. He writhes in pain shifting the weight of the body from the peg to relieve the abdominal pains and swelling, to the hands, and then from the hands He seeks momentary relief by pushing against the nails in in the feet.
Do you see anyone . . . even God having mercy?
He pulls on His arms to relieve the pressure of the body pressing on the nails in the feet and crotch. That quickly becomes unbearable, and He shifts the weight of the body pressing on the nails in the feet by pulling on the nails and ropes with His arms. Becoming soon exhausted by the pain in the arms He slowly lets the weight of the body press against the peg giving relief to the hands and feet - but it proves to be unbearable and quickly He presses on the feet to support the body weight pushing with the legs against the nails. This soon becomes so agonizing He seeks relief by resting the crotch on the peg again to take the pressure off of the nails in the feet. But this brings insufferable pain shooting into the abdomen forcing Him to quickly shift His weight again to the arms. This is the struggle of our Lord as He hangs hour after hour shifting the weight from the crotch to the hands, from the hands to the feet, and then back to the crotch. From the crotch, to the hands to feet; from the crotch to the hands to the feet until exhausted He finally stops moving the body weight and hangs pitifully impaled waiting for death.
The heat is unbearable. As He pulls again and again on the jagged wounds of the nails inflammation sets in, the hands and feet begin to swell adding pain to pain. The fever reaches the head and a throbbing headache brings delirium to the mind. As new pain enters the Jesus body as He continues the cycle of switching the body weight from one inflamed part of the body to another. The arteries of the head and stomach become enlarged, thirst tears at the throat.
The cycle of shifting the weight of the body from the hands to the crotch
to the feet could go on for hours depending on health and age. Jesus being
strong and only 33 years old would stay alive under these conditions for
hours!
From the feet, to the crotch, from the crotch He shifts to pressing
upward on the nails in the feet ...
From the feet to the hands, then lifting the body again off of the
peg ...
From nails to the peg, from the peg to the nails...
From the hands to the feet to the crotch ...
From the feet to the crotch, then back to pulling on the arms ...
From the hands to the feet, to the crotch ...
He keeps shifting the weight hour after hour seeking relief from the
pain ... but it never comes.
The pain only increases. The flesh around the wounds has grown sore
from pulling and pressing on them. Pain is added to pain until numbness
creeps upward fronm the feet, inward from the hands meeting in the center
of the body. The belly swells, the legs and arms are inflamed, the mouth
has turned to cotton, the lips crack. In this state, Jesus looked upon
the crowd with compassion. He seems to be wanting to say something, the
mouth is moving, Those who stand nearby heard Him say, Father, forgive
them, they know not what they do. The victim hangs there limp, not struggling
with the shifting as before - He is too weak.
Have we seen one little bit of mercy through this agony?
The bleeding abates as the blood pressure drops as the heart grows weaker. The tissues under the skin crystallize grinding the nerves like ground glass.
Have you glimpsed one bit of mercy in this travesty?
Now pain comes with the slightest movement of the body. Suddenly with tissue under the skin crysalyzed bringing a new pain the body breaks into violent convulsions! Each jerk of the body tearing at the enflamed nail wounds and irritating the crystalized tissues. The crowd responds as though awakened as His body jerks and twists out of control.
I look in vain to find one small sign of mercy!
Now the end is near. All attempts to switch the body weight cease. The victims only seeks to die. He now hangs motionless head fallen to the chest. He manages to let the words escape I thirst, comes from his mouth, His parched lips hardly able to move. One of the Roman soldiers ran to the vessel of vinegar again with a hyssop branch in hand. Dipping the hyssop in the vinegar he returned to the thirsting Jesus swatting Him in the face, back and forth he swats the hysop against His face. The crowd roars with approval. Jesus attempts to reach the vinegar with His tongue but pain prevents it, and now He realizes He does not have the strength to open His mouth or extend His tongue. The crowd is pointing and remarking as the final hour nears.
Suddenly the priest's voice can be heard over the crowd, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. Spiritual torture comes. The hours have been filled with mental, physical and spiritual anguish. But the spiritual agony of the cross was the deepest horror Jesus suffered. It is reflected in His loud surprising cry which He mustered at the very last, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He felt abandoned as He lost the last sense of the Fathers's presence...something He had not known through the eternities! The last stage of crucifixion begins as cramps begin developing in the legs, the arms and the stomach. They increase until every muscle in the body is in the state of cramp while the victim is still conscious. It the body turning stiff in death before life leaves the body. Now the last stage of crucifixion leaves Him with only death ahead. He has suffered the last symptom of torture the crucifixion afflicts a man with just before death - rigor mortus.
As you have watched Him die - have you had one glimpse of mercy?
The last words they heard Him utter were, It is finished. Soon after that they heard Him garble the words, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit, from cracked lips. (Luke 23:46) In the end we watch to see His final breath, but He just hangs there so still, so pitiful, a man who did only good. When His spirit left Him, the body showed no limping. The Roman crucifixion leaves its victims cramped and stiff.
Jesus Christ provided for man on the tree what man could have never provided for himself! That is the Grace of God AT THE CROSS.
The crowd gets restless. The Jewish Sabbath is approaching. The Romans know their victims must die before the Sabbath day begins according to Jewish law. One of the Romans stands to his feet holding a thick club in his hand and walks toward one of the three crosses. He approaches the thief and poked him with the club to see how much life was in him. There was a groan from the thief. The Roman stood back, raised the club and then suddenly brought it crashing down on the man's legs. There was pitiful shriek. Now the victim could no longer use His legs to shift the weight from the hands and peg in the crotch. This would hasten the man's death - the hour was getting late. He walked over to the other thief and dealt two more blows leaving the legs visibly fractured. But when he came to Jesus to break His legs, he noticed then that He was already dead. Jesus legs were not broken. The Roman officer in charge of the crucifixion shouts an order to one of his men. The one spoken to, rises from off the ground with spear in hand approaching the body of Jesus. With the point of his spear hovering under the rib cage. He lowers the spear for a second and then suddenly thrusts it upward into the stomach of Jesus. A burst of blood and water spurts from the belly running down the legs. The crowd responds with a din of voices. (John 19:33-37)
Now, tell me sir, do you see any mercy in these scenes?
No! This is God judging sin without mercy!
This is perfect justice meting out the penalty without mercy!
All through the long hours of the crucifixion Jesus endured that Friday afternoon, God the father sat in the heavens watching with myriads of angels and let it happen! God sat in the heavens holding back His love for the Son because perfect justice was being executed upon the sin of the sinner ... and there was no mercy.
There was not one move made to stop the outrage! The unjust carnage of the innocent man on the middle cross was sensless! Yet God allowed the agony to go on hour after hour without intervention from the heavens! In fact, God withdrew His presence from His Son and left Him to suffer the terror of separation from the Father - these divine intimates - separated? But, why? we ask. Yes, His death was so unjust, and yet through the injustice of man the perfect justice of God was meted out so that perfect justice might be available to the sinner.
Because the Son of God was paying the penalty for SIN! and sin separates us from God! Perfect justice was being executed. He would take the penalty and pay the sinners due for rebellion against God, as a sinner. Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 2:24
We should attempt to define perfect justice because it will be under
much consideration in the study that follows. Some understanding of two
great subjects are vital to the doctrine of Grace; (1) Perfect justice
in the light of (2) the cross.