Day 40: How Did Jesus Respond?
What happened to Jesus on The Cross? This is one of the most profound questions we can consider. Today, we discuss just a small portion of what we can know from the words of Jesus himself.
…what actually happened when ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ’ is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing… “
John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ, 18.
John 8:29
“The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what pleases Him.”
For the entirety of His earthly life, Jesus never once said “no” to the desires and will of His Father. Jesus was totally dependent upon and subject to His Father. Jesus was completely available to the Father and the Father was completely available to the Son. This means that Jesus never sinned, He always did the things that brought pleasure and glory to His Father. Peter clearly tells us, “He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth” (see 1 Peter 2:22).
As Jesus faced the torture and death of the Cross, He was convinced that it was the Father’s desire and will for Him to drink the terrible Cup of Judgment to accomplish His redemptive plans. At his crucifixion, Jesus, would fulfill part of His destiny, part of His purpose for coming to Earth, by paying the full payment for all sin for all time. This means that Jesus would have to experience the full force of death. Just as Adam first experienced spiritual death and then physical death, so also would Christ. For Christ to taste spiritual death, He would be “separated” from the Source of all life—God the Father. For the first time in His existence, Jesus the Son would experience God as the Righteous Judge who would pour upon Him the sins of all people for all time. Jesus would bear our death and guilt and shame in a way that we never could. He would bear these things for us, so that we could be free of them.
How Did Jesus’ Response Affect Him?
The New Testament accounts allow us to know that Jesus was nailed to the Cross at approximately 9 AM, Friday in the year AD 30. From 9 AM until Noon Jesus suffered the wrath of men as they mocked Him, spat upon Him, and taunted Him to free Himself from the Cross, as proof of His claim to be the Son of God, Israel’s King, and humanity’s only Savior. But then from Noon till about 3 PM Jesus suffered under the wrath of God as God dealt with the problem of sin once and for all.
As we survey what we know about this time, it is important to take note of WHAT Jesus says and WHEN He says it. This will give us some insight into what is going on. Let’s look at the critical statements Jesus makes:
Jesus Addressed God as His “Father” Before the Noon Darkness.
Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided His clothes and cast lots.
Jesus called God “Father” as the Romans were dividing his clothes among themselves. Even when suffering at the hands of godless men, Jesus still prays for them asking the Father to forgive them.
Darkness Covered the Whole Earth from Noon until around 3PM.
Luke 23:44–45
It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three, because the sun’s light failed.
From the Noon to the 3 PM, Jesus drank the Cup that he feared. Jesus experienced spiritual death (separation from God) as God dealt with Jesus not as His beloved Son, but with Jesus as “sin for us.” The darkness gives us the indication that what is happening is very “dark” indeed. In the three hours of His being separated from the Father, Jesus became by choice what we had become by birth–spiritually dead and separated from the source of life. In these hours, Jesus takes upon Himself the sins of all people for all time.
In the Darkness, Jesus Dddressed God as “My God” and not “My Father.
Matthew 27:46
About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
In the darkness in his suffering, Jesus cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” This is a quote from Psalm 22:1, which was a recognized Messianic Psalm by the Jewish world. What Jesus cries out here is significant.
This is the only time during His earthly life that Jesus ever addressed God as “My God.” Jesus addressed God 170 times in the New Testament as “Father,” 19 times as “My Father” and 2 times as “Abba Father.” 191 times Jesus calls God “Father,” but never “God.” So why is this the only time that Jesus addressed God as “my God”?
During those three hours of darkness, Jesus was not in a Father-Son relationship with God, but a judicial relationship. Remember, in these hours He became so identified with the sinfulness of fallen humanity that He became sin for you and for me! He drank the Cup of Wrath that signified His spiritual death (separation from God) so that we as the fallen heirs of fallen Adam could drink from the Cup of Salvation and have access to His eternal kind of life.
It is difficult for us to understand and fully appreciate Jesus’ agony because we were born spiritually dead and separated from God. Jesus, however, for all of His eternal existence had only known a continuous fellowship with His Father in love and glory. For Jesus, separation from His Father was the worst possible agony He could imagine or endure.
Jesus Cries Out Victoriously “It is finished!”
John 19:28–30
After this, when Jesus knew that everything was now accomplished that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, “I’m thirsty!” 19:29 A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on hyssop and held it up to His mouth. 19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” Then bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
At approximately 3 PM, Jesus realized that “everything had already been accomplished” and He cries out, “It is finished!!!” Notice that He did not say “I am finished,” but “It is finished.” Jesus had fulfilled the eternal purposes for which He had been sent to earth. Christ had made the perfect payment for sin for all time and had opened a way for fallen humanity to have complete and unhindered access to God in a personal relationship with Him.
And take note: Jesus’ cry of victory came before His physical death!!! In the hours that Jesus had spent under the wrath of God, separated from the Father, He had experienced spiritual death. But now that was over. With His relationship with the Father restored, we could say that before Jesus died physically, He experienced a “spiritual resurrection.” Even before He died physically, He had made the complete payment for sin, He had drained the Cup of God’s Judgment for all time, and He had provided the basis for a “new and living way” to God (Hebrews 10:20).
Also, Matthew tells us that after Jesus said His last words and gave us His Spirit, “Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was split in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked and the rocks were split” (Matthew 27:51). This curtain in the Temple in Jerusalem separated the Holy Place from The Most Holy Place/Holy of Holies. Only the High Priest was allowed enter this most holy place once a year. This curtain was 60 feet tall and 30 feet wide and it represented the separation of the Lord-God from “common people.” It is clear that Jesus has opened up a “new way” for everyone to come directly into the presence of the Lord-God (see Hebrews 10:19-22).
Jesus Again Addressed God as “Father.”
Luke 23:46
And Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit.” Saying this, He breathed His last.
When Jesus addressed God as “Father” again just before He released His spirit, He gave evidence that He was once again in right relationship with the Father—Jesus was spiritually alive. Just as Jesus had said, the Father had given Him the power to lay down His life and take it up again, so here He is in total control of His death. Jesus “yielded up His spirit” to the care of His father and His body entered into physical death.
Three Days later, Jesus Was Resurrected from the Dead.
1 Corinthians 15:20–22
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep… 15:22
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
On the Sunday after his crucifixion, Jesus’ Spirit returned to his physical body which was then resurrected and transformed into a new body. Jesus died, He was buried, and He was raised to new life.
Today, it is important that you see what happened on the Cross and understand the significance of these key statements that Jesus made. Below, there is a chart that lays this out with some corresponding Scripture to give you a better picture of what happened. Take some time to consider the chart.
*You can find a complete list of all the MilktoMeat readings here.
