Jesus Conquered The Death Sentence
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:3-12 (KJV)
Jesus was sentenced to die in a mock trial. They used false witnesses, but it failed. Jesus told them plainly who He is: the Son of the Most High, the Son of God. They put a crown of thorns on Him, but He still thought the best of others. When they insulted and demeaned Him, He kept quiet. When He did speak, He spoke truth to His accusers.
They spit in His face, punched and slapped His face, and beat Him over the head with a rod- thrusting the crown of thorns deeper into His head. He just looked back at them in love. His face was marred, yet it was the face of God, revealed for them to see. They didn;t see it. They only saw their own hatred.
They whipped Him many times. His body was broken so we could be healed and made whole. He carried His cross to show us that there is nothing that He can’t carry for us. They nailed His feet and hands to an execution stake called a cross and they dropped it in the ground, jolting His disfigured, bleeding body. His feet were nailed, showing that He would go anywhere to save us. Hs hands were pierced to show us He would reach out anywhere for us. Blood flowed from head to toe, demonstrating that Jesus’ blood covers all our needs.
He hung on a bloody cross for six hours. In the Bible, six refers to mankind. He died in mankind’s place. People mocked Him on the cross and most of His followers denied and forsook Him. Some watched Him as He was suffered and died. he was offered vinegar to ease the pain, but He refused in order to take on all of our pain and punishment.
He was forsaken by God the Father because He became sin. He took our separation, the separation that came between us and God as a result of sin. He cried out, “It is finished,” releasing His spirit to the Father for safekeeping, and then He died.
He overcame death, hell, and the grave. He beat sin and satan, and redeemed us from the curse and all its effects. Jesus conquered the death sentence for us all. Those who accept Jesus and follow Him, making Him Lord, will partake of what He has done. They’ll pass from death to life, from darkness to light, from rejected to accepted. He made the covenant promises of God available to us. God is our Father and we have an inheritance with Christ. We will live with the Trinity and God’s family forever!
