Sarcastic reviews. Late night jokes. Hateful criticism. Promises to ban him from work in Hollywood. Mel Gibson has faced all that and more over the last year. All because of the making of The Passion of the Christ.
Why all the controversy? The brutality? R-rated slasher movies come out all the time. And just a few people protest. So, the hostility isn’t really because of the brutality.
The clear message of The Passion of the Christ is that Jesus died for sinners. At the heart of the film is a truth: We are sinners who need a Savior and Jesus alone is that Savior. Most Americans don’t like to think of themselves as sinners. And many Americans don’t like to think that they need Jesus as Savior.
As one writer said, “As long as the purpose for Christ’s death remained within the pages of the Bible or walls of the church, nobody cared. But when a superstar uses his artistic genius, financial resources, and marketing network to write the message about Jesus in big, bold letters – well, that’s going too far and both Gibson and his film had to be shot down.”
I’ve seen the movie twice. Both times, there was silence in the theatre afterwards. I read about a secular audience in Texas that applauded after seeing the movie. And why not? To secular people, the film may seem like it emphasizes a common Hollywood theme: a good man suffers at the hands of bad men, but wins in the end. But if that’s all secular people get out of the movie, they may as well watch an Indiana Jones re-run. That’s why we’ve got to talk about this film with our friends. And we have to be prepared to answer their questions. It’s a mystery to non-believers: Why did Christ have to suffer so? Why did He have to die?
Why did Jesus die?
Series: The Passion of the Christ: True or false?
Text: II Corinthians 5:21
Maybe you’ve seen the movie and learned a little from the messages, but would still like to know more about what the Bible has to say about the passion of Jesus. We have a six week study for you where you can also develop some relationships with others here at CVCC.
Some small group Bible studies are getting ready to start. An organizational meeting will be held today in room 104 following the 11:45 service to help people find the group that best fits their needs. If you can’t be there at 11:45, please let us know of your interest on your Care Card.
In past weeks, we’ve looked at biblical answers to: Who really killed Jesus? What crime did Jesus commit? Talks over the next two weeks will give the biblical answers to: Couldn’t there have been another way? and How now should we live?
Last week, we sought to answer the question: Just how badly did Jesus suffer? We looked at key words in Isaiah 52 and 53 – stricken, smitten, afflicted, wounded, crushed, disfigured, marred beyond human likeness – and considered the possibility that the movie, though brutal, may not have been as violent as His death really was.
There’s another passage in the OT that was specific in predicting the sufferings of Jesus long before crucifixion as a form of execution had been invented by the Romans. Scholars have often used these ancient prophecies to point out to skeptics that the Bible is reliable.
You can almost hear Jesus saying these words as He suffers the scourging and hangs on the cross. If you’ve seen the film, you can picture specific scenes that parallel these verses.
Here I am, a nothing – an earthworm, something to step on, to squash (Msg) scorned by men and despised by the people (NIV). Psalm 22:6
They sneer and shake their heads, saying, “Is this the one who relies on the LORD? Then let the LORD save him! If the LORD loves him so much, let the LORD rescue him!” Psalm 22:7b-8 (NLT)
Trouble is near and there is no one to help. Psalm 22:11b (NIV)
My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls… they come at me with open mouths.
Psalm 22:12a, 13b (NLT)
Every joint in my body has been pulled apart. Psalm 22:14 (Msg)
My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Psalm 22:15a (NLT)
Brutal enemies attack me like a pack of dogs. Psalm 22:16a (CEV)
They have pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 22:16b (NIV)
They took my clothes and gambled for them. Psalm 22:18 (CEV)
The odds against all these prophecies coming true in one person is astronomical. That it’s in the Bible hundreds of years before Jesus died points to the miraculous nature of this Book.
Wait, Rick. How do you know that this Psalm speaks about Jesus? Couldn’t it be just a coincidence that these words and Jesus’ death match up? No. It can’t just be a coincidence. I didn’t read to you the first verse in this Psalm, a verse Jesus quoted as He hung on the cross. Let me set the stage.
It was mid-afternoon on the day Jesus died. Mid-afternoon, but it was dark outside. It was darker for Jesus on the inside. He had been dying for hours. The work was almost finished. He had reached the closing moments of His brutal death. What we are going to hear is His cry from the lowest point of His misery.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Psalm 22:1a (NASB)
These are the words that begin Psalm 22. Think about it. When Jesus was hung on that cross, He quoted the first verse of Psalm 22 as if to say, “This one is about Me.”
Every good Jew in Jesus’ day would have known the opening words to Psalm 22. As Jesus experienced the last few hours of suffering, surely He knew that this Psalm was His Psalm.
There’s not been a question ever asked that has been or will be more full of sorrow. Jesus had survived the betrayal of a follower, the desertion by His friends, a sleepless night, false accusations at a shameful trial, the loss of blood from the scourging, and a beating that disfigured His face. He hadn’t complained at the cross with the nails piercing His hands and feet. We only see a glimpse of His physical need through the natural cry of weakness – “I thirst.”
But when it came to being forsaken of God, His great heart burst. “Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani?” His question concerns His God. It is not, “Why has Peter forsaken me? Why has Judas betrayed me?” These things hurt, but this cut deepest. This cut him to the quick: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”
This is a real mystery. I’ve sometimes wondered, “Didn’t Jesus know why He was forsaken?” He had said earlier in Matthew 20:28 that He had come to “give His life as a ransom for many.” So, yes, He must have known why. But maybe in His manhood, as He was being crushed, Jesus could not see as clearly the purpose for such a brutal death.
But perhaps the Lord Jesus asked “why” so we might think deeply about it. He wants us to see the “why” of His sufferings. He wants us to understand the purpose for His being rejected. Don’t just think about the physical pain that Christ went through. Don’t overlook the purpose for it. The great pastor C.H. Spurgeon said, “Make a life-study of that bitter but blessed question, ‘Why have You forsaken Me?’ The Savior raises an inquiry not so much for Himself as for us.”
Why? Why? Why? The Passion of the Christ is focused on the “where” and the “how” and the “who” but not so focused on the “why.” Why did Jesus have to suffer so much? Why did He have to die? The answer to that question can be found in many places in the Bible. John Piper has written a book that details 50 reasons.
But this morning, let’s just look at two.
1. Jesus died for God’s glory.
As Jesus sat with His followers at His Last Supper, before He went out to the garden to pray and after Judas left the room to betray Him, He thought about what would happen as a result of His death. He looked around the room and said:
Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
John 13:31
A little later on that same night, He prayed. And in His prayer, we see His focus as He faces the cross. Jesus prayed, in John 17:3, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.”
The cross is about the glory of God! Jesus knew that the chief purpose of life… and death is to glorify God. He knew His OT:
For My sake, for My own sake, I do it… My glory I will not give to another.
Isaiah 48:11
One contemporary song that’s powerful and popular and moving is the song “Above All.” It’s about Jesus and His death. “Crucified. Laid behind a stone. Sent to die, rejected and alone. Like a rose, trampled on the ground. He took the fall and thought of me, above all.”
Thought of me… above all? It’s that last phrase that’s just not right. It’s so man-centered. He thought of me above all? It reflects the spirit of this age. We want to be made much of. It’s about me! No. He did not think of me above all. How could He possibly think of me above all… and you… and you… and you… above all? It’s logically impossible and theologically incorrect.
He thought of you and me throughout His passion. But not above all. Our greatest good comes when He thinks of His Father’s glory above all. Glorifying God is what made Him take the beating, the scourging, the crowning, the nailing. Why did He die? Jesus died for God’s glory. And this second reason makes the first even more clear.
2. Jesus died for our good.
Our good and God’s glory come together at the cross. For the last few weeks, we’ve explored some big words that explain in detail the good that we received because Jesus died.
Propitiation.
Justification.
Redemption.
Here’s a verse that introduces another big word…
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
II Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
II Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
II Corinthians 5:21 (NLT)
This verse teaches us about… substitution.
Substitution – Jesus died in our place for our sins as our substitute
To really understand substitution, we need to break down II Corinthians 5:21 a little. I see at least three truths:
1. He knew no sin.
He made Him who knew no sin…
II Corinthians 5:21a (NASB)
As a substitute for us before God, Jesus had to be free from sin Himself. If He had been a sinner, His death could have just paid for His own sin. Jesus was born of a virgin. He did not share in our depravity. The Bible says He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." From the beginning of His life to the end, you cannot put your finger even on a mistake, much less on any willful wrongdoing. Pilate, the Roman, governor said, “I find no fault in Him.”
Was He tempted? Yes! Did He fall to the temptation? No! Satan himself threw at Jesus all the temptations that could ever come to man. But Jesus went to the end, without a single flaw in His life or a stain upon His soul.
The verse says, “He knew no sin.” He had to walk in a world filled with sin. He was around it. He saw it. He knew about it. But He did not know it.
He knew no sin.
2. I know deep sin.
Notice how the verse ends.
… that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
II Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
Why do we need to be made righteous? Because we are not righteous. We don’t think right. And we don’t act right. Deep down inside, we’re wrong.
There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God… there is none who does good, no, not one.
Romans 3:10-12
Without Jesus paying the price to cover our sin, there would be nothing standing between us and the eternal damnation that we rightly have earned as fallen sinners:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
Romans 1:18
I know deep sin… and I’m in deep trouble.
3. He took my sin.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf…
II Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
Jesus never broke the law of God. That’s why He could die as a substitute in the place of lawbreakers. Jesus was treated as if He had Himself been sin. He was not guilty. But God looked on Jesus as if Jesus had committed God-hating, soul-damning sin.
When the Judge of all the earth said, “Where is sin?” Jesus hung on the cross and said, “Here.” Jesus was hanging before His Father as if He Himself were that thing that God cannot endure.
God had no pity for him. How could He have pity on sin? God hates it. We’ll never really know how much God hates evil. And He treats Jesus as if He were evil.
Jesus turns His eye to heaven and sees nothing there. How could He? God cannot look on sin. So, Jesus says, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” How could God do anything with sin but forsake it?
Think of sin gathered up into one mass – murder, lust, rape, and adultery, and all kinds of crime – all piled together in one hideous heap. And add to that all the petty jealousies and selfishness and irritableness. We couldn’t bear to look at that mass of sin. And we are sinners! How much less should God with His pure and holy eyes look at that mass of sin? But there it is… on Jesus. No wonder God forsook His Son.
He hangs in our place, assumes our guilt, takes our iniquity. Here we are today. We know that we are guilty, but our sins have all been punished almost 2,000 years ago.
He knew no sin. I know deep sin. He took my sin. That’s substitution.
See yourself on trial before God. He’s your Judge. Will it be life or death? Yes, God is gracious, and He desires to save you. But God is also just, and He must punish you. Since there is a verdict of guilty against you, how will the two seemingly conflicting attributes work together? Justice or grace? Justice or grace? Which will it be? He is loving so He wants to save you. He is just so He must judge you! How can this tension be resolved?
God, the Judge, has seen your sin and recorded all your wrongdoing. So, there is no hope of escaping. You are sure to be found guilty. How can you escape?
God says, “I have a plan. My Son, the pure and perfect One will stand in your place. He will be considered guilty. And, you, the guilty, will stand in my Son’s place and be seen as righteous.
Let me make it as plainly as I can: Jesus was sinless; we are sinful. Jesus said, “My Father, treat Me as if I were a sinner; treat the sinner as if he were Me. Wound Me. I will take it. Crush Me. This is the way Your love will flow and yet Your justice stay untarnished. The sinner is no sinner now.”
Now, you can stand before God just like Jesus. With the Savior’s righteousness freely given to you, you are accepted. When you one day die, you can stand before God and say, “God, You can’t condemn me. You have already condemned Christ for me. You have punished Christ in my place.”
God’s glory and our good. Do you see it? Do you see how His death for God’s glory and for our good work together? Jesus says, “I will show the world Your justice and Your mercy in one place… on the cross. I will show Your wisdom that made a way for sin to be punished yet the sinners be saved.”
God’s glory is magnified since both His justice and mercy are seen coming together at the cross. This is good for us and glorious for Him!
Jesus … …so I could …
… was treated as an enemy … be treated as a friend
… was condemned … be accepted
… was stripped … be clothed
… was wounded … be healed
… was thirsty … drink
… was tormented … be comforted
… bore my shame … inherit His glory
… entered darkness … have eternal light
… wore a crown of thorns … have a crown of glory
… experienced rejection … receive welcome
… closed His eyes in death … open my eyes in heaven
What a substitute! Isaiah 53 is another passage in the Bible that points out many truths about substitution. It’s why we call His grace amazing! Let’s take a look…
Prayer of salvation…
A point to ponder: I’m forgiven because He was forsaken.
A verse to remember: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. I Peter 2:24 (ESV)
A question to consider: How will I make sure that these truths about substitution will increase my level of gladness this week?
