Text: Isaiah 53:4-11, John 19:16b-37, John 3:16
Good morning, precious sisters. I wish I could greet each one of you with a quiet hug on this day of mourning. It is perhaps the most bittersweet day of the year, but somehow, in the darkness, the sweetness is harder to find.
Have you read through today’s passages yet? If you haven’t, I’d love if you’d do that first. Today we’ll sit quietly in John’s account of Christ’s crucifixion – chapter nineteen. Go ahead and read now, I’ll wait. Read the other gospel accounts too, if you like (Matthew 27:32-56, Mark 15:21-41, Luke 23:26-49). Allow your heart to enter into the text and ask the Holy Spirit to quiet your heart.
Do you feel the weight of what you just read? It’s hard to read without deep sighs and even tears, isn’t it? The reality of a real man – my God – enduring what He did. It makes me so painfully uncomfortable and yet, picturing it all, I’ve never felt so deeply loved.
I appreciate that John is careful to write historically, but that so much of what he writes has profound underlying spiritual meaning. The way he references fulfilled Old Testament prophecies is good and practical, but there is so much more to it than that. With each prophetic reference, John is showing us God’s hand at work across the ages.
In a sham of a trial with an unjust verdict, He shows us that this is how God intended for His only Son to be sentenced. What they meant for evil, God meant for good. John shows us God – working out His purposes in this poor, fallen world. In a situation where God seems to be completely absent, He has been present for ages.
And when Christ breathes His final words before His death, “It is finished,” He not only indicates that the worst ordeal – bearing the wrath of God against sin in the place of His people (Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34) – is literally over, He has also completed the work of salvation for His people.
It is finished. Complete.
And hear this today, sisters – really hear it: Because it is finished, there is nothing that any one of us can contribute to His work on the cross to bring us any closer to salvation.
He did it all.
“He was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5, ESV)
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Carolynmimi- THANK YOU!!
I’m amazed at the beauty of your service, how powerful. I wish I could have participated. It really brings home the weight of my sin and the indescribable sacrifice of Jesus for me, for all of mankind.
I really enjoy your posts, they are so knowledgeable and I always learn from them!
I don’t know much, but I’m learning more everyday from all of the sisters of SRT!
Raechel, you have done AMAZING work on this study!! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! To all of you girls who head this site, you are truly impacting and teaching hundreds of women. God’s hand is on you and what you are doing! Soo thankful He led me here. Have a beautiful Easter ladies! :)
Along with What Wondrous Love Is This that was posted above, here is another favorite hymn that brought me to tears last night in our Maundy Thursday service:
Were you there when they crucified my Lord…
Were you there when they nailed Him to a tree…
Were you there when they pierced Him in His side…
Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb…
Yes. I was there because my sin was there. My sin did this. Praise The Lord that I can also be there on Sunday morning, witnessing the resurrection and knowing that my salvation is with Him. He did it all for me, for you, for this world. Thank you doesn't even begin to cover it.
WOW!! Carolynmimi! What a wonderful and thoughtful time of remembrance and reflection! I love having the timeline available. That would have really been something to participate in! And so powerful!
I loved this from today: " The way he (John) references fulfilled Old Testament prophecies is good and practical, but there is so much more to it than that. With each prophetic reference, John is showing us God’s hand at work across the ages.
In a sham of a trial with an unjust verdict, He shows us that this is how God intended for His only Son to be sentenced. What they meant for evil, God meant for good. John shows us God – working out His purposes in this poor, fallen world. In a situation where God seems to be completely absent, He has been present for ages."
He has been present for ages!!!
Ladybug, His perspective is both forward and backward so that it shifts the horror and apparent tragedy of the crucifixion so that many of us wear a cross as a reminder that we are Christians…not as the gruesome tool of torture that it was, but as a symbol of God's Love and Grace, which it is. Oh, to be able to see with God's perspective. You are right, "He has been present for ages."
Love that song, haunting, true. Thanks for sharing.