Jesus Made The Way Clear

What Did Jesus Do?

Jesus said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
John 19:30

Jesus is the “reason for the season(s),” at least I believe it is pretty safe to say that is how the folks who make only two appearances in church each year think of him. After all, what would Christmas and Easter be without Jesus? But, as folks on Facebook know me, I am the guy who lobbies for keeping CHRISTmas every day, because Jesus isn’t the reason for a season or the season, he is The Man for all seasons. So, my question is: What would yesterday, today, and tomorrow be like without Jesus? My answer is: Nowhere near as incredible at they are with him! If Jesus is worthy of note on any day, he is also most assuredly worthy every day.

In this light, it doesn’t matter much to me that what most of the people who actually bother to contemplate the meaning of Good Friday, almost certainly occurred on a Thursday. The thing is, the great thing is, whatever day of the week it was, it happened. What happened? Christ’s death on the cross, the atoning sacrifice for your sins and for mine, which has made the way clear for us to enter the kingdom of God. Without the work that Jesus completed on the cross you and I would be barred from God’s presence forever, and condemned to an eternity of suffering in a place that makes the worst hell holes of this world, if you will excuse the expression, comparative gardens of peace and pleasure.

Yep, I believe CHRISTmas, the recollection and celebration of the Father’s gift of love in the person of his Son, whose birth is the only thing Christmas is really about, is worth keeping every day. But we would have very little reason at all to celebrate CHRISTmas without Jesus having gone all the way to the cross and the grave. In fact, I don’t believe anyone could offer any plausible argument that Jesus is the Christ if it weren’t for the cross. You see, if Jesus hadn’t gone all the way to the cross, and the grave, and experienced death itself, well, you and I would still have much to fear in death. But truly, as the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, Jesus snatched victory away from death, and removed its sting (1 Corinthians 15:55).

I want to finish up by emphasizing this point—“Good Friday” (or Thursday) is not the solemn remembrance of someone who swooned, who lost consciousness for a time, or who feigned death—Jesus died. He was as dead as anyone can be. The Father had asked the Son to make the way clear for his children to be reconciled to him and receive his kingdom, and Jesus knew all along that this required nothing short of his dying. So, make no mistake, Jesus died. And Christ underwent all that death involves, even to the experience of hell itself (This is the meaning of Psalm 68:18, which Paul cites in Ephesians 4:8-10).

Some, I suspect many, may picture Jesus storming the gates of hell like some sort of one-man army sent to free Satan’s POWs. But I believe that Jesus himself was, for three days, a POW as well. Again, Christ underwent all that death involves, even to the experience of hell itself, and being in the devil’s realm. But, when the time came, and the Father’s voice summoned him from heaven, “Arise, my Son,” neither Satan, nor the gates of hell, could deny the power of love in those words. Jesus had descended into hell in the same manner that the devil arranged for all of us, through death itself. But he rose, burst out through the gates, and ascended, leading a host of captives (The host of captives is the the elect.). Hell no longer has any claim or hold on any of God’s elect. Thus death’s sting has been removed, and its victory over us has been overturned. Christ, having finished his work, has made the way clear for you and me to be with him and his Father forever and ever. That’s what Jesus did, and if it’s not worth celebrating every day, I don’t know what is.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4