The opening of Psalm 22 should sound familiar to you as Jesus uttered these words from the cross. Yet, David wrote these words 1000 years before the Word became flesh and could bear our sins on the tree. Not only are the details in this psalm so vivid that they place us there at Calvary, but Jesus quoting its opening question and God telling us directly in John 19:24 shows us that David indeed wrote about his descendant dying on the cross for us. Continue reading “Why Have You Forsaken Me?”
Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
In this greatest of stories, a righteous God redeems sinful man. In its beginning, man is pitted against God, other men, and himself because of sin and faces an eternity separated from his Creator in hell. But in the suspense-filled climax, when it looks like Satan has won by putting our Savior on the cross and in the tomb, Jesus rises from the dead, so that we may too! What a resolution! It’s no wonder that “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” is one of our most beloved hymns:
Christ, the Lord, is ris’n today, Hallelujah! Sons of men and angels say, Hallelujah! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Hallelujah! Sing, ye heav’ns; thou earth, reply, Hallelujah!
I. John 19:38-30. As the second stanza states, love’s redeeming work was certainly done (1 John 4:9-10). Never having to face death again, it no longer had mastery over Jesus (Romans 6:9) and so not us either as we are ransomed from our futile ways (1 Peter 1:17-18):
Love’s redeeming work is done, Hallelujah! Fought the fight, the battle won, Hallelujah! Lo! Our sun’s eclipse is o’er, Hallelujah! Lo! He sets in blood no more, Hallelujah!
II. Matthew 27:63-66. Concern from the Jewish leaders that Jesus’ followers would steal the body and claim that He had risen from the dead prompted them to lie when Pilate eliminated all explanations for the empty tomb except that Jesus had actually risen (Romans 3:21-26):
Vain the stone, the watch, the seal, Hallelujah! Christ hath burst the gates of hell, Hallelujah! Death in vain forbids His rise, Hallelujah! Christ hath opened paradise, Hallelujah!
III. Luke 24:5-7. The angel proclaims this fact as well. We should not look for the living among the dead anymore for Jesus is risen and will never again die (Revelation 1:17-18). Because He overcame death, so can we. Death can have no hold on us ever again (1 Corinthians 15:54-57):
Lives again our glorious King, Hallelujah! Where, O death, is now thy sting? Hallelujah! Once He died our souls to save, Hallelujah! Where’s thy vict’ry, boasting grave? Hallelujah!
And that is indeed good news! Having obeyed the gospel, are you living as if Jesus is risen or still in the tomb?
Low in the Grave He Lay
We focus on the anguish Jesus endured from Gethsemane to Golgotha for us, and rightly so, but what must that somber Sabbath been like for His very confused and scared loved ones while “Low in the Grave He Lay” who didn’t know that soon He would rise (Luke 23:54-56)?
I. John 19:38-41. Expectations were dashed. He had just entered Jerusalem triumphantly, hailed by the crowd as the awaited Messiah in David’s line (Matthew 21:7-11). But now it was over. Death was so final. Just prepare some spices before dark and rest … because it is the Sabbath.
Low in the grave He lay–Jesus, my Savior! Waiting the coming day–Jesus my Lord!
II. Matthew 26:62-66. Enemies were vigilant. They had just watched Him enter Jerusalem triumphantly and heard Him hailed as the awaited Messiah in David’s line. Still they had managed to kill Him. Now, how to secure the tomb lest His followers steal His body and claim that He’s alive?
Vainly they watch His bed–Jesus, my Savior! Vainly they seal the dead–Jesus my Lord!
III. Luke 24:1-14. Excitement was building … but they didn’t know it! Gloom to the tomb characterized the women’s trip early on the first day of the week. Their only concern was who would move the stone for them as the soldiers weren’t likely to help. But then, what’s this? Where is He?
Death cannot keep his prey–Jesus, my Savior! He tore the bars away–Jesus my Lord!
He is risen! How can that be? The verses sung slowly and pianissimo (pp) give way to a chorus sung quickly and fortissimo (ff) as realization comes that Jesus has indeed overcome death.
Up from the grave He arose With a mighty triumph o’er His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign: He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose!
Go to Dark Gethsemane
Often we look for a sanitized version of the gospel. Jesus is serenely praying in the garden, looking just tired or sad in Pilate’s hall, or calmly awaiting death on the cross. The hymn, “Go to Dark Gethsemane,” challenges us to step into those scenes and learn from Jesus’ example in submission, suffering, and death for our lives as living sacrifices here (Matthew 26:36–27:50).
I. Hebrews 5:7-9. If you go to Gethsemane, you will experience the Savior’s sorrow unto death. We must linger here to know too how to submit and obey.
Go to dark Gethsemane, Ye that feel the tempter’s pow’r; Your Redeemer’s conflict see; Watch with Him one bitter hour; Turn not from His griefs away; Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
II. Philippians 3:8-11. If you spend time witnessing the sham trials our Lord endured and the terrible suffering that came to him before Calvary, you’ll learn the value of suffering as well.
Follow to the judgment hall; View the Lord of life arraigned; O the wormwood and the gall! O the pangs His soul sustained! Shun not suff’ring, shame, or loss; Learn of Him to bear the cross.
III. Colossians 3:1-4. If you climb the hill of Golgotha, hear the crowds and the Christ cry out, see the darkness and the agony of the silent Lamb bearing your sin, you may learn to die.
Calv’ry’s mournful mountain climb; There, adoring at His feet, Mark that miracle of time, God’s own sacrifice complete: “It is finished!” hear the cry; Learn of Jesus Christ to die.
The sadness we see early on the first day of the week is that of the women going to the tomb after a somber Sabbath. It is there that Jesus shows how to rise to walk in new life.
Early hasten to the tomb Where they laid His breathless clay; All is solitude and gloom; Who hath taken Him away? Christ is ris’n! He meets our eyes: Savior, teach us so to rise.
I Gave My Life for Thee
When my daughter had a flat tire on the highway on the way back to college a few years ago, it was difficult to hear the rough, male voices of the two truckers who stopped to help her change it. Though they were wonderful Good Samaritans, as a dad I envisioned them abducting her while I was powerless to stop them.
Because of sin, we have earned death (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23). The hymn, “I Gave My Life for Thee,” challenges us to return all of ourselves to God because Jesus has given all to us (Psalm 91).
I gave My life for thee, My precious blood I shed, That thou might’st ransomed be, And quickened from the dead.
I. John 17:3-5. Jesus left the glory of heaven for our sakes. Since God is His refuge, the same promises are ours if we make our home within His wings. The question in the chorus challenges us to leave this world for ministry:
My Father’s house of light, My glory circled throne, I left for earthly night, For wand’rings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me? I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me?
II. Hebrews 2:16-18. Jesus was made like us in every way that He might suffer for us in every way to be a help for us in time of struggle (Isaiah 53:4-6). Shouldn’t we also suffer all things in this world for Him?
I suffered much for thee, More than thy tongue can tell, Of bitt’rest agony, To rescue thee from hell;
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me? I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me?
III. Matthew 4:5-7. Because He did not yield to temptation, Jesus was able to bring us salvation, pardon and love. The last stanza of the hymn speaks of His protection and provision and asks:
And I have brought to thee, Down from My home above, Salvation full and free, My pardon and My love;
I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, What hast thou brought to Me? I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee, What hast thou brought to Me?
Thankfully, my daughter got the help she needed to change her tire. Dead in our sins and separated from God, Jesus gave His life for us to ransom us from hell. What is our response to that?
I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for Me? I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou giv’n for Me?
Our God, He Is Alive
Because it acts like He is dead or never existed, the world tells us that everything we see exists by accident or macro-evolution. But, no matter how smart or advanced man thinks he has become, he cannot explain how something came from nothing, complexity evolved from chaos, how life arose from non-life, or how morality developed from instinct. Claiming to be wise, they became fools (Romans 1:19-22).
Rather, because “Our God, He Is Alive,” God is able to help us in many ways here and in eternity.
I. John 1:1-3. In the first and second stanzas of the song, God is able to help us as our Creator (Isaiah 40:28-31) and Communicator (2 Timothy 3:16-17):
There is, beyond the azure blue, A God, concealed from human sight, He tinted skies with heav’nly hue And framed the worlds with His great might.
There was, a long, long time ago, A God the prophets heard, He is the God that we should know, Who speaks from His inspired Word.
II. Colossians 1:15-20. The third stanza shows God as Omnipotent (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) and Omniscient (Isaiah 55:8-9, Matthew 7:7-8):
Secure, is life from mortal mind, God holds the germ within His hand, Tho’ men may search, they cannot find, For God alone does understand.
III. John 8:34-36. The fourth stanza explains that because Jesus was our Sacrifice, He can also be our Savior (Romans 3:21-26):
Our God, whose Son upon a tree, A life was willing there to give, That He from sin might set man free, And evermore with Him could live.
Because we know that we serve a risen Savior, we see how He continues to help us in our daily walk with Him and prepares us for eternity, so we can declare to an unbelieving world that …
There is a God, He is alive, in Him we live, and we survive; From dust our God created man, He is our God, the great I AM.
O Holy Night!
Like most old hymns, the 1847 French poem that was turned into what we know as “O Holy Night!” is rich in doctrine. The title speaks of one, but the three verses would indicate four nights and proclaim the gospel from Jesus’ incarnation through His resurrection.
I. Luke 2:8-15. The first stanza tells the story of “the dear Saviour’s birth” on the first holy night. The gospel is announced as “good news of great joy” for “all the people” although only Jewish shepherds go to see what God had done in Word becoming flesh.
O holy night, the stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth; Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;
Romans 8 describes the world in sin and groaning for the sons of God to be revealed (v19-22), we who are baptized into Christ groaning inwardly awaiting our adoption and redemption (v23-25), and the Spirit interceding for us with groans too deep to understand (v26-28). So, we sing …
Fall on your knees, Oh hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born. O night, O holy night, O night divine.
II. Matthew 2:1-11. A second holy night occurs about two years later but is often confused with the events surrounding the incarnation. Here’s where the wise men following the star appear. In this account, Jesus is found in a house, not a manger, to these gentiles’ “great joy,” showing that indeed the gospel is open to all.
Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming; With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand: So, led by light of a star sweetly gleaming, Here come the wise men from Orient land, The King of Kings thus in lowly manger, In all our trials born to be our friend;
Because He’s “King of Kings,” having died for us, we must obey the gospel and live for Him (1 Timothy 6:13-16). He’s our high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses and help us in our need (Hebrews 4:14-16), letting us sing:
He knows our need, To our weakness no stranger! Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend! Behold your King! your King! before him bend!
III. Matthew 27:45-50. The third holy “night” was between 12:00 and 3:00 p.m. when Christ was crucified for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21), and the fourth was when He was resurrected “toward dawn” so we also might walk in new life through Him (Matthew 28:1-6; Romans 6:3-8).
Truly He taught us to love one another; His law is Love and His gospel is Peace; Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, And in his name all oppression shall cease, Sweet hymns of joy in grateful Chorus raise we; Let all within praise his Holy name!
Jesus taught us that everyone who sins is a slave to sin, and only He can set us free (John 8:31-36). Though He Himself knew no sin, He became guilty for all of our sins at the cross. Our response should be praise (Hebrews 13:15-16) and song:
Christ is the Lord, then ever! ever praise we! His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim! His pow’r and glory, evermore proclaim!
Have you obeyed and are living faithfully the “good news of great joy” gained on these holy nights?
Certainly This Man Was Innocent!
From Gethsemane through Calvary, we can see how Jesus, being fully man, became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Hebrews 5:7-9). Because of sin, man owed a debt to God he could not pay, so God became a man to pay man’s debt to God. In the gospel, Jesus was fully God to be our Savior, yes, but He was fully man to be our sacrifice. This is seen in the Centurion declaring, “Certainly this man was innocent!”
I. Luke 23:44-46. First, the curtain that was torn. In Leviticus 16:2-13, Moses was told to tell Aaron that he (and subsequent high priests) was not to just go behind the curtain of the tabernacle (and later the temple) where God’s presence was or he would die. He needed first to make atonement for his own sins and then enter only once a year with blood to atone for the sins of the people. The law was a shadow of the reality to come, however, and the man, Jesus, is the perfect and sinless High Priest that now enters heaven itself through the curtain which is His body with His own blood to perfectly atone for man’s sin once for all (Hebrews 10:1-23). This was the point of the incarnation (Luke 2:10-12; John 1:14-18).
II. Luke 23:46-49. Second, the gentile Centurion. Part of the Roman occupying force, this Centurion, no doubt in charge of a hundred men on crucifixion duty, was carrying out the death sentences for criminals from his superiors and keeping the peace while doing so. A good soldier who did not get involved with the civilian affairs in this foreign land, he likely was used to the pleas and protestations from the condemned and the crowd. Never did he see One like a lamb led to slaughter (1 Peter 1:17-19), and though he knew nothing of the Law or the significance of this great moment he was witnessing for him (Ephesians 2:11-16) or the fulfillment of very old prophecies (Genesis 12:13), this Centurion exclaimed what he did.
III. Galatians 3:11-14. That Jesus would be born to die for our sins though innocent Himself was predicted (Matthew 1:21; John 1:29) and the result explained (2 Corinthians 5:21). We all were dead in our sins (Romans 3:23) and had no way to pay back our debt suddenly had a way through a man’s victory at the cross (Romans 6:23) because Jesus took our curse upon Himself on the tree. He went through a terrible ordeal to do this for us (Psalm 22:1-19), but His work as fully man on the cross resulted in our sacrifice for sins (Isaiah 53:3-8).
Are you, along with the Centurion, certain of this man’s innocence to be the sacrifice for your sins?
The Old Rugged Cross
We are to let the Word dwell in us richly, Colossians 3:16 tells us, and one of those ways to teach and admonish with thankfulness in our hearts is by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another. “The Old Rugged Cross” is a beloved hymn that proclaims Jesus’ death for our sins and then gives us a glimpse of our glorious future if we not only obey but live out the gospel.
I. Romans 3:21-25. After describing the place of Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice (John 19:17-19), the song tells us that the cross is an “emblem of suffering and shame” (Galatians 3:11-13). And yet we “love that old cross.” How? Because, we discover, that the “dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.” As we realize that Jesus died for us, we want to live for Him (Galatians 2:19-21) … and the horrific cross takes on new meaning.
II. John 15:18-19. The world doesn’t get it, and in the best of its wisdom despises the cross … and so us who have obeyed the gospel and are living it out in our lives (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). But to us, the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God. That the “dear Lamb of God” would leave His “glory above” to “pardon and sanctify me” (John 1:29; John 17:4-5) is the “wondrous beauty I see.”
III. 1 Peter 4:12-13. Then promising that living out the principles of the gospel will be hard, we’re encouraged in the song to persevere to one day share in Jesus’ glory. If we “cling to the old, rugged cross,” we will one day secure a crown (James 1:12).
Since Jesus gave all for you, won’t you give all for Him?
Stand in the Breach
Like the pillar of cloud and fire separating the Egyptians from the Israelites at the Red Sea, God has always stood in the breach for us. He had to as we could not, because of sin and selfishness, stand in the breach for ourselves.
I. Ezekiel 22:24-30. At the time of captivity, the nation of Judah had so fallen into sin that God says He searched for one to stand in the breach for them but found no one. That’s mankind’s struggle as no one is righteous and all have fallen short because of sin (Romans 3:9-23). God has always stood in the breach for us (Exodus 14:19-25) through power, but He declares that He will now do so through weakness (Ezekiel 34:11-16) and states that He Himself will be a good shepherd to us.
II. John 10:11-15. Jesus, God in the flesh, is our Good Shepherd, who lays His life down for us. To stand in the breach against the forces of the enemy is a position of sacrifice for all those who He protects within the defensive fortification. Jesus fufills the “Here am I, send me” of Isaiah 6:8 by willingly laying down His life on the cross (Hebrews 10:5-10) and stands in the breach caused by our sin.
III. Ephesians 6:10-18. Through His sacrifice, we are able to love like He has loved us and lay our lives down for others (John 12:23-26; John 13:34-38) and stand in the breach for a lost world (John 15:11-17). Armed with His love as our ultimate weapon, we do not wage war as the world does (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). So, it is time to suit up!
God still stands in the breach for us with His mighty power. It’s just now that through the weakness of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-25), Jesus has made it possible for His followers to stand in the breach in His mighty power with the same weapons of weakness–and overcome!