Road trip today! We’re taking a trip to Calvary.
It’s Good Friday, and Christians around the world are celebrating the three days of death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I thought it would be a good time to take a break from our reading schedule and delve into the subject of the cross. Why the cross? And what in the world happened there that made us call it “Good” Friday.
So let’s go to the prophecy which explains it.
Isaiah 53
There are some mysteries here for sure, but this is what we know. When God created the world and gave Adam delegated authority over it, to represent God in managing the earth, Adam blew it! He turned around and sold out to Satan, so that he lost his authority, lost his relationship with God, and set all of mankind on a path to perdition.
For some reason (and this is one of the mysteries), there had to be a second Adam to take back the authority. This man, since the world had been sold out to Satan, had to be a perfect man and had to go into Satan’s very headquarters just as Satan demanded, to pay the price for the sin of the world.
There was a dilemma, however, since there was no perfect man. Satan thought he had everything tied up forever – until Jesus appeared on the scene. He was obviously the Son of God and the son of man. He was born to a woman, but by the Holy seed of God.
Satan was nervous as he saw Jesus represent God on the earth, but he thought, “If I can just kill Him, then, I’ll win.” Little did he know that he was playing into God’s hands. It was God’s plan to have His Son crucified and go into hell. From there, God’s resurrection power would catapult Him out of hell, out of the grave, back to earth, and eventually up to Heaven.
So Satan took the bait, and God’s plan – the plan that was made before the foundation of the world – came into effect.
When we look at the cross, death, burial, and resurrection, all of the chapters we have been reading take on more clarity. God had to raise up a group of people who could bring His Son into the world. (And sometimes this took extreme measures).
He had to teach these people that He was a Mighty God and that He could be trusted. God had to teach them that He was a covenant keeping God, so that eventually we could understand the covenant we have with Him through Jesus.
He had to teach these people about the necessary sacrifice of a perfect lamb. Only then could they – and we – understand the sacrifice of His perfect Lamb, Jesus. He had to teach them that they would not be able to keep the law; only through Jesus would we have the empowerment to obey God.
Lesson after lesson, year after year, our Father led these covenant people to the culmination of all things.
As we read Isaiah 53, we see the prophecy foretelling the cross. (Especially notice verses 4-6). He took our griefs and our sorrows. He took our sin, our pain, our sickness. Oh, this is much more far-reaching than we can imagine!
Jesus paid the price not only for our sin nature, but He made the way for us to escape the result of sin. Sickness, poverty, and pain are all part of the curse which came on the earth when Adam sinned. We have been redeemed from all of that.
We’ve been talking about taking the Promised Land, and this is that! These are promises, but they don’t fall on us like the manna did in the wilderness. These promises are taken through “faith and patience.”(Hebrews 6:12)
To take the Promised Land provided by Jesus, we have to follow the rules of Joshua. “Ever place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given you.”(Joshua 1:3) We have to put our foot down to receive the abundance.
We still have an enemy who tries to trick us and rob us, but we have a Savior now. Our Savior has paid the price for an abundant life, but we do have to take it.
I am confident that when we get to heaven, we will be amazed to see what He paid for. It’s so easy to get distracted and settle for “whatever comes.” But there is more. Much, much more. If we will reach out for it.
My prayer today is that you and I will meditate on Isaiah 53 until we see beyond what we have before seen. He paid the price for us to go to heaven, and much more here on earth.
“What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.” Psalm 116:12-13.
I want my life to be a witness to the goodness of God, don’t you?
