Does The Cross Draw You?
Mark 15:33-39
Message #61
Last week our message was, “Does The Cross Move You?” and we asked “Are we moved” by the King of Heaven being subjected to every type of cruelty that our sin nature could muster, and then finally being brutally nailed to the cross between two thieves. And all of that was before this final moment when Jesus would experience something immeasurably more agonizing.
Today we see the moment when Jesus takes the sin of the world upon himself in full measure, and then experiences the full consequences of our sin, in our place. This is the moment Jesus pays the full penalty for our sin – personally. We saw one level of the horror Jesus experienced last week, and we asked, “Does the cross move you?” Today, we see an immeasurably greater horror Jesus experienced on our behalf, and we ask – Does The Cross DRAW You?
We ended last week with Jesus on the cross, the people mocking him from the ground, and one of the two thieves mocking Jesus from one cross, while the thief on the other cross was putting his faith in Jesus and receiving a promise of eternal life.
And so, we pick it up today with the final events of the full agony Jesus experienced in order to pay the full penalty for our sins.
It starts in the following verse.
Mark 15:33 (NLT)
33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.
At noon, with the sun at its brightest – suddenly darkness engulfs the entire land for three hours. This was no solar eclipse. This was no windstorm. This was the hand of God covering the land of Israel with the darkness of our sin. This is a picture of your sin engulfing Jesus. This is a picture of the darkness of the sin of the world coming down like a blanket on Jesus.
In the Exodus, a plague of darkness covered the land just before the very first Passover Lamb was slain, and now just before the ultimate and once-and-for-all Passover Lamb is slain, darkness again covers the land. And in the mid-day darkness, the judgment of God for our sins is crushing Jesus on the cross.
For three hours in that darkness, the sin of the world was poured out onto Jesus Christ. Your sin and my sin was poured out onto the Son of God. Why was it dark for three hours? This is the part we can’t understand, we can’t imagine. I know we think, well it’s God. He could put all the sins of all the world on Jesus in an instant. Maybe not… Maybe it took three hours for the darkness of the sin of this world to be piled on Jesus. It’s so hard for us to understand what’s happening here, but one thing I can tell you for sure is that your sin and my sin in that three hours of darkness was poured out on Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The LIVING Bible says here (2 Corinthians 5:21):
For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!
We call this “the Great Exchange.” Jesus becomes sin for us and we become the righteousness of God in him. That’s what’s happening at this moment. As the darkness is falling, Jesus became your sin and my sin – personally. Sin piled on sin, piled on sin, all poured out onto Jesus Christ in three hours of darkness on the cross.
Don’t let this slip by you because this is the power of what’s happening at the cross. This is the crux of the cross. This is why Jesus was born incarnate in Bethlehem. For this moment when the sin of the world is poured out on him in darkness.
Galatians 3:13 (NLT)
13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing . . .
I’ve seen people repelled by the cross, even saying that a God of Love wouldn’t do such a thing. But that is unbiblical and humanistic thinking. God is not a big “us.” He’s not “us” on a really good day. He’s God! And he’s first and foremost holy and just – perfectly righteous, holy and just. Sin cannot be in his presence. God IS the God of supreme and unconditional love, and the cross is proof of the depth of his supreme love. On the cross, Jesus took the full penalty for our sin so we can receive the free gift of eternal life – in him. That IS the God of true, supreme, unconditional love.
And so, after the three most horrific hours in human history,
Mark 15:34 (NLT)
34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Jesus had the sin of the world poured out on him for three dark hours and he bore it all – in silence.
So, what caused the agonizing cry from the Son of God? It was the ultimate terror Jesus faced on our behalf so we would never have to face it. Taking on the darkness of our sin Jesus was separated completely from the presence of God the Father.
1 John 1:5 (NLT)
5 . . . God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
The one who knew no darkness became our darkness, and when he did Jesus experienced true separation from God which is the full penalty for our sin.
No one in this life, on this earth can feel the terror of being completely separated from God because even the most determined unbelievers live in a measure of God’s grace and God’s presence on this earth.
This separation from God caused Jesus to sweat what seemed like “great drops of blood” in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was the moment of his deepest agony and terror, and when he cried out the most heartbreaking of all the sayings on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” IF God the Father could have answered Jesus (and he could not because he had turned his back on him) – he would have said, “For Dave.” “I am forsaking you – for Dave.” “I am abandoning you – For Dave.” “I have poured all of Dave’s sin upon you and you are paying the full penalty of being separated from me so that Dave will never have to be.”
This is Jesus drinking the full and final cup of the full judgment of God upon my sin and yours.
Does this idea of the judgment of God upon our sin repel you from the cross? Or does this idea of the reality of God’s judgment upon our sin draw you to the cross; knowing the truth, that Jesus Christ paying for our sins on the cross was the only way that you and I could ever stand in the presence of God?
Mark 15:35-36 (NLT)
35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. (mistaking the “Eloi” cry)
36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”
But the Gospel of John tells us that ultimately someone did give Jesus this type of wine the Roman soldiers carried and Jesus needed just that bit of liquid because he still had two “final statements” to make.
We find the first one in John 19.
John 19:30 (NLT)
30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, (TETELESTAI!) “It is finished!” . . .
TETELESTAI is an accounting word that was stamped on a debt when that debt was paid in full and Jesus is saying – at this moment – your debt is being paid in full.
And then, the last statement from the cross we find in Luke 23.
Luke 23:46 (NLT)
46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” . . .
Jesus is in complete control here. This is not happening to Jesus. This is what Jesus is doing for you. Jesus is not being a victim here. Jesus is being a Savior here, and when Jesus cried, “It is finished!” he meant his sacrifice for your salvation was finished, and then he confidently yielded up his spirit to the Father.
Guys, when you begin to grasp what Jesus truly did for you here, it’s got to draw you TO the cross.
Mark summarized this final moment in Mark 15.
Mark 15:37 (NLT)
37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry (that we just saw) and breathed his last.
And then – immediately – God teaches us two more life-changing lessons in two more miraculous events both occurring the moment that Jesus finished the work of salvation and yielded up his spirit to God. Mark 15:38 mentions the first one. But, let’s flip over to Matthew and get both of these events together.
The first one is in Matthew 27.
Matthew 27:51(a) (NLT)
51 At that moment (of Jesus’ death) the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom . . .
This was the thirty-foot high, four-inch-thick veil (curtain) that separated the Holy of Holies from the people because the Holy of Holies was where the Presence of God dwelt (Shekinah Glory), and only the High Priest could go into this most holy place, and only once a year, and only after a ton of preparation. But now, suddenly, this four-inch-thick, thirty-foot high curtain was slashed in two – from above, like a giant sword fell from heaven. This is God dramatically announcing that the way into his presence is now wide open to anyone who comes through faith in the work that Jesus had just accomplished on the cross.
Hebrews 10:19–20 (NLT)
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain (this veil) into the Most Holy Place.
This is what Jesus was doing when he was paying the full penalty for our sins on the cross. He was opening a new and life-giving way into the most holy Presence of God.
But – the writer of Hebrews isn’t finished – he continues in Hebrews 10.
Hebrews 10:21–22 (NLT)
21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,
22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. (Meaning - we have been made righteous - THROUGH Jesus Christ)
The veil being torn (from above) is God’s dramatic proof that by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our salvation we can go right into the very presence of God standing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
But there is still one more dramatic proof that God wants to send us a clear message on, and this one is the best of all.
Back in Matthew 27…
Matthew 27:51(b)-53 (NLT)
51 . . . The earth shook, rocks split apart,
52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.
This is so awesome!!! If God wanted to send a message that the death of Jesus Christ would bring resurrection from the dead, then this would be the best way for God to send that message. The minute Jesus cried, “It is finished!” and yielded up his spirit, a whole bunch of God-fearing people were resurrected – back to life, and they came out of their graves, and headed straight into Jerusalem to see some old friends.
The miraculous darkness that fell earlier proved the darkness our sin was falling on Jesus. The miraculous tearing of the veil in the Temple proved we can come directly into the Presence of God. The miraculous resurrection of the dead proves that we will also be resurrected from the dead.
Yes, our sin fell on Jesus and it was a dark and horrific experience for the Son of God. But on the cross, Jesus won the victory over our sin and on the cross, Jesus made a way for us to come boldly into the Presence of God. And on the cross, Jesus beat death and the grave proving that “in Christ” we will also beat death and the grave.
The Roman Centurion – who was in charge of the entire crucifixion process – didn’t need any more evidence. Back in Mark 15,
Mark 15:39 (NLT)
39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Jesus said in John 12,
John 12:32 (NLT)
32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
Does the cross of Jesus Christ draw you to him? Or have you gotten so messed up with religion and opinions and your own ideas that maybe you’ve missed the life-transforming power of the cross?
If you will approach the cross and truly look to Jesus, then he has promised that he will draw you to himself. And he will draw you to salvation in his name.
Today we see the moment when Jesus takes the sin of the world upon himself in full measure, and then experiences the full consequences of our sin, in our place. This is the moment Jesus pays the full penalty for our sin – personally. We saw one level of the horror Jesus experienced last week, and we asked, “Does the cross move you?” Today, we see an immeasurably greater horror Jesus experienced on our behalf, and we ask – Does The Cross DRAW You?
We ended last week with Jesus on the cross, the people mocking him from the ground, and one of the two thieves mocking Jesus from one cross, while the thief on the other cross was putting his faith in Jesus and receiving a promise of eternal life.
And so, we pick it up today with the final events of the full agony Jesus experienced in order to pay the full penalty for our sins.
It starts in the following verse.
Mark 15:33 (NLT)
33 At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.
At noon, with the sun at its brightest – suddenly darkness engulfs the entire land for three hours. This was no solar eclipse. This was no windstorm. This was the hand of God covering the land of Israel with the darkness of our sin. This is a picture of your sin engulfing Jesus. This is a picture of the darkness of the sin of the world coming down like a blanket on Jesus.
In the Exodus, a plague of darkness covered the land just before the very first Passover Lamb was slain, and now just before the ultimate and once-and-for-all Passover Lamb is slain, darkness again covers the land. And in the mid-day darkness, the judgment of God for our sins is crushing Jesus on the cross.
For three hours in that darkness, the sin of the world was poured out onto Jesus Christ. Your sin and my sin was poured out onto the Son of God. Why was it dark for three hours? This is the part we can’t understand, we can’t imagine. I know we think, well it’s God. He could put all the sins of all the world on Jesus in an instant. Maybe not… Maybe it took three hours for the darkness of the sin of this world to be piled on Jesus. It’s so hard for us to understand what’s happening here, but one thing I can tell you for sure is that your sin and my sin in that three hours of darkness was poured out on Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 2:24 (NLT)
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
The LIVING Bible says here (2 Corinthians 5:21):
For God took the sinless Christ and poured into him our sins. Then, in exchange, he poured God’s goodness into us!
We call this “the Great Exchange.” Jesus becomes sin for us and we become the righteousness of God in him. That’s what’s happening at this moment. As the darkness is falling, Jesus became your sin and my sin – personally. Sin piled on sin, piled on sin, all poured out onto Jesus Christ in three hours of darkness on the cross.
Don’t let this slip by you because this is the power of what’s happening at the cross. This is the crux of the cross. This is why Jesus was born incarnate in Bethlehem. For this moment when the sin of the world is poured out on him in darkness.
Galatians 3:13 (NLT)
13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing . . .
I’ve seen people repelled by the cross, even saying that a God of Love wouldn’t do such a thing. But that is unbiblical and humanistic thinking. God is not a big “us.” He’s not “us” on a really good day. He’s God! And he’s first and foremost holy and just – perfectly righteous, holy and just. Sin cannot be in his presence. God IS the God of supreme and unconditional love, and the cross is proof of the depth of his supreme love. On the cross, Jesus took the full penalty for our sin so we can receive the free gift of eternal life – in him. That IS the God of true, supreme, unconditional love.
And so, after the three most horrific hours in human history,
Mark 15:34 (NLT)
34 Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Jesus had the sin of the world poured out on him for three dark hours and he bore it all – in silence.
So, what caused the agonizing cry from the Son of God? It was the ultimate terror Jesus faced on our behalf so we would never have to face it. Taking on the darkness of our sin Jesus was separated completely from the presence of God the Father.
1 John 1:5 (NLT)
5 . . . God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.
The one who knew no darkness became our darkness, and when he did Jesus experienced true separation from God which is the full penalty for our sin.
No one in this life, on this earth can feel the terror of being completely separated from God because even the most determined unbelievers live in a measure of God’s grace and God’s presence on this earth.
This separation from God caused Jesus to sweat what seemed like “great drops of blood” in the Garden of Gethsemane. This was the moment of his deepest agony and terror, and when he cried out the most heartbreaking of all the sayings on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” IF God the Father could have answered Jesus (and he could not because he had turned his back on him) – he would have said, “For Dave.” “I am forsaking you – for Dave.” “I am abandoning you – For Dave.” “I have poured all of Dave’s sin upon you and you are paying the full penalty of being separated from me so that Dave will never have to be.”
This is Jesus drinking the full and final cup of the full judgment of God upon my sin and yours.
Does this idea of the judgment of God upon our sin repel you from the cross? Or does this idea of the reality of God’s judgment upon our sin draw you to the cross; knowing the truth, that Jesus Christ paying for our sins on the cross was the only way that you and I could ever stand in the presence of God?
Mark 15:35-36 (NLT)
35 Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. (mistaking the “Eloi” cry)
36 One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”
But the Gospel of John tells us that ultimately someone did give Jesus this type of wine the Roman soldiers carried and Jesus needed just that bit of liquid because he still had two “final statements” to make.
We find the first one in John 19.
John 19:30 (NLT)
30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, (TETELESTAI!) “It is finished!” . . .
TETELESTAI is an accounting word that was stamped on a debt when that debt was paid in full and Jesus is saying – at this moment – your debt is being paid in full.
And then, the last statement from the cross we find in Luke 23.
Luke 23:46 (NLT)
46 Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” . . .
Jesus is in complete control here. This is not happening to Jesus. This is what Jesus is doing for you. Jesus is not being a victim here. Jesus is being a Savior here, and when Jesus cried, “It is finished!” he meant his sacrifice for your salvation was finished, and then he confidently yielded up his spirit to the Father.
Guys, when you begin to grasp what Jesus truly did for you here, it’s got to draw you TO the cross.
Mark summarized this final moment in Mark 15.
Mark 15:37 (NLT)
37 Then Jesus uttered another loud cry (that we just saw) and breathed his last.
And then – immediately – God teaches us two more life-changing lessons in two more miraculous events both occurring the moment that Jesus finished the work of salvation and yielded up his spirit to God. Mark 15:38 mentions the first one. But, let’s flip over to Matthew and get both of these events together.
The first one is in Matthew 27.
Matthew 27:51(a) (NLT)
51 At that moment (of Jesus’ death) the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom . . .
This was the thirty-foot high, four-inch-thick veil (curtain) that separated the Holy of Holies from the people because the Holy of Holies was where the Presence of God dwelt (Shekinah Glory), and only the High Priest could go into this most holy place, and only once a year, and only after a ton of preparation. But now, suddenly, this four-inch-thick, thirty-foot high curtain was slashed in two – from above, like a giant sword fell from heaven. This is God dramatically announcing that the way into his presence is now wide open to anyone who comes through faith in the work that Jesus had just accomplished on the cross.
Hebrews 10:19–20 (NLT)
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus.
20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain (this veil) into the Most Holy Place.
This is what Jesus was doing when he was paying the full penalty for our sins on the cross. He was opening a new and life-giving way into the most holy Presence of God.
But – the writer of Hebrews isn’t finished – he continues in Hebrews 10.
Hebrews 10:21–22 (NLT)
21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house,
22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. (Meaning - we have been made righteous - THROUGH Jesus Christ)
The veil being torn (from above) is God’s dramatic proof that by faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our salvation we can go right into the very presence of God standing in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
But there is still one more dramatic proof that God wants to send us a clear message on, and this one is the best of all.
Back in Matthew 27…
Matthew 27:51(b)-53 (NLT)
51 . . . The earth shook, rocks split apart,
52 and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
53 They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.
This is so awesome!!! If God wanted to send a message that the death of Jesus Christ would bring resurrection from the dead, then this would be the best way for God to send that message. The minute Jesus cried, “It is finished!” and yielded up his spirit, a whole bunch of God-fearing people were resurrected – back to life, and they came out of their graves, and headed straight into Jerusalem to see some old friends.
The miraculous darkness that fell earlier proved the darkness our sin was falling on Jesus. The miraculous tearing of the veil in the Temple proved we can come directly into the Presence of God. The miraculous resurrection of the dead proves that we will also be resurrected from the dead.
Yes, our sin fell on Jesus and it was a dark and horrific experience for the Son of God. But on the cross, Jesus won the victory over our sin and on the cross, Jesus made a way for us to come boldly into the Presence of God. And on the cross, Jesus beat death and the grave proving that “in Christ” we will also beat death and the grave.
The Roman Centurion – who was in charge of the entire crucifixion process – didn’t need any more evidence. Back in Mark 15,
Mark 15:39 (NLT)
39 When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Jesus said in John 12,
John 12:32 (NLT)
32 And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
Does the cross of Jesus Christ draw you to him? Or have you gotten so messed up with religion and opinions and your own ideas that maybe you’ve missed the life-transforming power of the cross?
If you will approach the cross and truly look to Jesus, then he has promised that he will draw you to himself. And he will draw you to salvation in his name.