FROM THE CROSS AND THE CROWN

Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, the garden of Gethsemane, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

It is difficult for us to comprehend what this meant to the Lord.

It was more than a separation from His Father, for three days and three nights.

He was to partake of Spiritual Death,

the nature of the Adversary.

It is hard to understand how He could become Sin,

but I know He did.

Jesus knew why He had come, and that He was to be made Sin.

He must partake of that dread nature of the Adversary.

His body would become mortal.

Satan would become His master.

This was the tragedy of the Garden.

Jesus was to suffer the agonies of the lost.

He was to be reckoned among the transgressors.

He was to bear the diseases and sins of the human race.

He was to be forsaken by His Father.

It is no wonder that we read

“he sweat drops of blood”

It is no wonder that He cried,

“Father, if there is any other way—.”

But there was no other way. He, and He alone, must pay the penalty, or humanity would be eternally lost,

One literal translations reads,

“If it be possible, take this cup from me; but not my will, but thine, be carried through to completion.”

It was not a weak submission to the inevitable.

It was the Heroic Son of God facing humanity’s great need and crying to the Father,

“Carry this thing through to completion and save the human race.”

I believe that there was as deep of spiritual agony in the Garden as on the cross.

Anticipation of union with Spiritual Death was so hideous, so utterly unthinkable, the angles had to minister to him

However, when Jesus came out from the Garden,

He came as a Master.

He had won the fight.

He came as the Conqueror!

The battle in the Garden was spiritual. He had purposed to redeem man out of the hand of the Enemy.

To do it He must surrender Himself to that Enemy.

Jesus knew the hour was coming when Satan would have Him under his control.

But now, facing the Soldiers and the trial of the Sanhedrin, and the judgment hall of Pilate,

He walked as a King!

to the trial

This is the tragedy of the Ages.

Now The One that cared for the children of Israel was on trial before the very High Priesthood

that He had established.

How vividly the in John 1 the scripture points out,

“he came to His own and they did not receive Him”

They received Him —— to nail Him to the cross.

In that trial He stood before Pilate, the Senate, and the High Priesthood with dignity.

Not once did He call their attention to who He was.

He did not argue with them.

He did not plead with them for mercy.

Because Acts 2 tells us that He was

“Delivered by the determined purpose, and foreknowledge of God”

The High Priesthood were the ones who were to carry out that determinate will of Love.

He was not resigned; He was not submissive;

He was not a martyr; He was love.

Love was on trial—yes, but He was an absolute Master.

He was God manifested in the flesh.

The arrest and trial of Jesus is one of the tragedies of the human race, and especially of God’s chosen people.

The tragedy is that the Lord, the Blood Covenant friend of Abraham, came to earth, conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, born in a manger, welcomed by an angelic choir, grew up among His own people, yet remained a stranger to them.

They did not know Him.

They witnessed His miracles. He turned water into wine, dominated the laws of nature, healed the sick, and raised the dead with words.. He walked the waves and calmed the storm.

His people witnessed all this

Surely they must have known that He was the Son of God.

Jealousy had such a dominance over the hearts of the jewish leaders that they sought to put Him to death.

They despised Him, and demanded His death.

They had their Lord on trial.

and Everyone of the men shouted, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him,” “Let His blood be upon us, and upon our children,”

I wonder if you have ever realized the tragedy of what they did? What grief they brought upon themselves! “Let His blood be upon us.”

They turned Him over to a heathen Governor to be scourged, beaten and crowned with thorns.

then they followed Him up Calvary’s Hill as He carried His Cross, hurling words of derision and hatred at Him.

He was betrayed in the House of Israel, His Blood Covenant friends. His people treated Him as an enemy. They crucified Him and shouted, “Let His blood be upon us.”

It was Judgment Blood. It should have been the Blood that would eternally bind them to their Covenant God, in the New Covenant.

They made it a Blood of Judgment, separating them from their Saviour and the Father God. He came to make good the promises of the Covenant.

He came to make them Sons and Daughters.

He came to establish a New Covenant, with His own blood.

and They crucified Him.

to The Cross

now let’s Look at the Gospel of John, in chapter 19.

Beginning at verse 16:

John 19:16–19 NKJV

Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS

All through the ages a cross has been a part of the human family.

it is a sign or a symbol that has been found in dens, in caves, in tombs, and found on coins through all the years.

It is a sign of contradiction. Its very shape speaks of conflict and confrontation.

it speaks to us suffering, sadness, sacrifice.

Jesus took that sign and that symbol and converted it into a symbol of triumph and of victory.

Paul could write in Galatians, chapter 6, —

Galatians 6:14 NLT

As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.

oh — what Victory

when Job cried, in Ch 7, saying

“I have sinned; what shall I do?”

the answer to that question from the beginning has been in blood, in sacrifice, and in death.

All of creation looked upon the impenetrable mystery of the shedding of blood:

Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and beyond.…

you ask…

Will the shedding of blood never stop?

Will the crimson tide never cease?

Not only that, but as the ages progressed,

men were ordained to shed blood:

We read in Leviticus 17 about the Aaronic priesthood and the Levitical tribe and the countless daily, weekly and yearly sacrifices

saying “it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul”

We read In 1 Chronicles 29 where David slew a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, a thousand lambs, in sacrifice at one festival

We read In 2 Chronicles 7 where Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep at one festival

We read In 2 Chronicles 30 about Hezekiah who offered a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep to the Lord

And the leaders who gave to the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep;

and a great number of priests sanctified as well

We read in 2 Chronicles 35 where Josiah offered…

Then Josiah provided 30,000 lambs and young goats for the people’s Passover offerings, along with 3,000 cattle,

the administrators of God’s Temple, gave 2,600 lambs and young goats and 300 cattle as Passover offerings.

The Levite leaders gave 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 cattle for their Passover offerings.

The Levites then slaughtered the Passover lambs and presented the blood to the priests, who sprinkled the blood on the altar

Never since the time of the prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did, involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and people from all over Judah and Israel.

This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

When would all the sacrifice in blood ever be enough?

Thousands and thousands and thousands of sheep and cattle offered as sacrifices

and It continued on after the captivity,

year after year after year after year

And then he came…….

Our precious Lord Jesus,

He is the Christ ; Our Messiah,

the prince of heaven, the savior of the world

And he brought with him God's final answer to the question —

— will the blood flow ever cease?

Look with me at…

Hebrews 9:19–28 TPT

For Moses ratified the covenant after he gave the people all the commandments of the law. He took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the people and the book of the covenant, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commands you to keep.” And later Moses also sprinkled the tabernacle with blood and every utensil and item used in their service of worship. Actually, nearly everything under the law was purified with blood, since forgiveness only comes through an outpouring of blood. And so it was necessary for all the earthly symbols of the heavenly realities to be purified with these animal sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required a superior sacrifice than these. For the Messiah did not enter into the earthly tabernacle made by men, which was but an echo of the true sanctuary, but he entered into heaven itself to appear before the face of God in our place. Under the old system year after year the high priest entered the most holy sanctuary with blood that was not his own. But the Messiah did not need to repeatedly offer himself year after year, for that would mean he must suffer repeatedly ever since the fall of the world. But now he has appeared at the fulfillment of the ages to abolish sin once and for all by the sacrifice of himself! Every human being is appointed to die once, and then to face God’s judgment. But when we die we will be face-to-face with Christ, the One who experienced death once for all to bear the sins of many! And now to those who eagerly await him, he will appear a second time; not to deal with sin, but to bring us the fullness of salvation.

He stopped the offering of countless blood sacrifices

He stopped the endless line of priests

He stopped the procession of Jewish people before the altar

He stopped it all

blood of atonement—- cover sin

Jesus did not cover sin - he abolished it!

Hebrews 10:12 NRSV

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,”

the vail In the temple was rent in two

The Holy of Holies was no longer the home of Jehovah.

God had moved out of the temple..

Jesus had fulfilled the Abrahamic Covenant and the law.

There was no need of a priesthood any longer.

The high priest, Caiaphas, finished his ministry when he made the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who was to take away the sin of the world.

There will no longer be a Holy of Holies, a place for the atonement blood to be sprinkled.

The Holy of Holies is now in heaven!

By offering His blood as the one sacrifice —He paid the price for everyone

by becoming all that was needed to secure our salvation

In Hebrews 8 it tells us that He is our new high priest, and He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high

In Hebrews 9 He became the victim, he was the sacrifice for our sins

in John 19 we find that His altar was not out of hewn stone,

but He bore it, a cross

And the blood that He poured out in substitution for sin was offered not within a veil made with human hands but beyond the veil —- in heaven itself.

He was the sacrifice of Almighty God for our sins

Hebrews 10:4–14 NLT

For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God— as is written about me in the Scriptures.’ ” First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

And all the blood and all the sacrifices through all the ages before were but figures of Christ and His sacrifice

He was the One those streams of blood pictured in…..

Colossians 2:16–17 NKJV

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

But the substance is Christ!!

in Isaiah 53:3] Prophecy called Him a “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”

in Isaiah 53:3 He was hated and despised and delivered into the hands of sinners

in Matthew 27:35 He was clothed in a mock robe and He was unclothed in shame

In Matthew 27 He was tied to a pillar and flogged and beaten with Roman rods.

in Matthew 27:26-35 He was nailed by fierce men to a cross

in Matthew 27:45-46 God in heaven turned His face away, and the sun refused to shine

And in Matthew 27:47-50 He died a sacrificial atonement for our sins

1 John 2:2 NLT

He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

This day sin was at its worst,…

This is sin at its darkest

This is sin at its blackest.

Sin would not only destroy man,

but it would murder God Himself.

What is a picture of the blackest of sin?

Is it homes that are destroyed and hopeless and helpless?

Is it a bar where virtue and purity are forever destroyed?

What is the blackest of sins?

Is it in the marketplace where gold is god

and men sell their souls for a taste of it?

is that The blackest of sins?

No, — Surely it is seen on that day on the cross ….

Matthew 27:32–50 NLT

Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it. After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there. A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!” The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way. At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.” Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.

Jesus died for my sin!

And in one of the most remarkable of all of the providences of God,

at that same day when sin was at its blackest and darkest,

God’s love and compassionate care were at their sweetest, their dearest and their finest.

When sin was at its worst, God’s love was at its best.

And there on the cross —the love of God and the hatred of Satan and sin met in mortal conflict.

And the love of God was triumphant, and we were delivered …

Paul cried —

death is swallowed up in victory

And then the sting of death is sin, …

but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

There the faithfulness of Christ is seen in all of its heavenly splendor.

God has set aside the old and everything that pertains to it.

The new has a Redemption instead of Atonement.

It has Remission instead of a Scape-goat.

It has a New Birth instead of circumcision.

It has fellowship with the Father in the place of the burnt offering.

The New Covenant has the Lord’s table in the place of the Passover.

We are sons instead of servants.

We have the law of love in the place of the law of sin and of death.

We have life in the place of death.

We have righteousness instead of condemnation.

When we break the law of love, we have an Advocate.

They have judgment and stoning and death. We have a living Father who watches over us.

This is a picture of something beyond human reason; that our princely Saviour suffered on our behalf, that He might make us righteous.

Righteousness,—— means the ability to stand in the Father’s presence without the sense of guilt, condemnation or inferiority.

We stand there as sons in the presence of the Father of love.

We have been recreated out of His own heart.

We are of His own substance.

“Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation.”

We are a new species; something the world had never known until the Day of Pentecost.

We are so nearly like Christ, so utterly one with Him, that Christ can say, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.”

We are become partakers of His own nature. Not only that, but He comes and makes His home in our bodies.

I cannot grasp this with my understanding. I simply know that it is a fact, and my spirit bears witness with the Word that it is true.

He is in me now.

That great, mighty Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is in me.

He is illuminating the Word, causing my heart to grasp the wonders of the Father’s grace as unveiled in Jesus.

Can’t you see the vital need of our studying to find out what we really are in Christ?

in Acts 20 it says we are “purchased with His own blood”

wow!!!

What the Spirit, through the Word, has really wrought in us that has made us acceptable to Him until He can whisper, “You are in the Beloved.”

That means you are as near the Father’s heart as Jesus is.

two last verses……

Romans 5:17 NKJV

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)

Romans 5:20–21 NKJV

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

the battle of the ages

finishing with the victory

Related Media

Related Sermons