Criminals hanging on crosses along Roman roads were common sights for all travelers to witness. It struck fear into the lives of those who saw them, providing a strong deterrent to criminal activity in the Roman Empire. This is why Jesus’ predictions about His coming crucifixion were so incomprehensible to the disciples. Jesus wasn’t a criminal, they argued, so why is He talking about dying on a cross? And yet, He told His disciples on three different occasions that He was going to Jerusalem to die, but that He would also rise again.

Jesus knew that He was destined to be the “Passover Lamb” as the nation gathered during Passover weekend in Israel. And Jesus also knew that He would fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy of the “Suffering Servant,” the One who would be “pierced for our transgressions” and “crushed for our iniquities” (Is. 53:5). Here is more of what Isaiah predicted:

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (Is. 53:5-6).

And then Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, told His disciples,

“This is the blood of the New Covenant, shed for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt. 26:28).

The biblical account tells us that Jesus not only died, but that He died for our sins. This was the message of the Apostles and all who proclaimed Christ as Savior and Lord. Here is what the Apostles Peter and Paul had to say about the blood that Jesus shed on the cross:

“You were not redeemed with perishable things…. but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Pet. 1:18-19).

“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches of His grace…” (Eph. 1:7).

“He has made peace with God through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20).

“God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

You see, Christ dying on a Roman cross in AD 30 is a fact of history, but that He died for our sins is confirmation of what Jesus had told the disciples during the Last Supper. We call this the “Vicarious Atonement,” that is, someone else did for us what we could not do for ourselves, that is, to pay the penalty for our sins.

Let’s look at what Paul had to say to the Christians in Corinth:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom,  but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (I Cor. 1:18-25).

The Greeks were following the pattern of the great Greek philosophers like Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, always looking for a philosophy of life filled with wisdom, while the Jews were always looking for signs like those performed by Moses and Elijah. A crucified Messiah just wouldn’t cut it! And yet, it is the message of the cross that is wiser than human philosophy and more powerful than miraculous signs because it brings salvation accompanied by a transformed heart and life.

I love what Paul wrote to the Church in Rome:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, and then to the Greek (Rom. 1:16).

There it is friends – The message of the cross is God’s power being unleashed to bring salvation to both the Jews looking for signs and to the Greeks looking for wisdom. The message of the cross is the wisdom and the power of God to change lives.

If your life has not yet been transformed by the message of the cross, today would be a perfect day for you to ask him to forgive your sins and transform your life. And then, tomorrow, you can celebrate the fact that the empty tomb confirms all that Jesus said to His disciples, first that He would die on the cross and then rise from the dead. The resurrection is not only the confirmation of His power to forgive sins, but to also impart “life” to us. I will have more to say about that next week.

Blessings to you all. In the meantime: HE IS RISEN, yes, HE IS RISEN INDEED! Let’s proclaim it with joyful exuberance!