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Together we’re on a series in the gospel of Mark. In this week and next week are the last two parts of the series. After that, we’re going to go into a series called The Core. And if you’re new to Alpine Bible Church, those be especially important for you because we’re going to go through four weeks of shaping the identity of what our church is about.
If you’ve been a part of ABC for awhile, it’s good for us just to refocus our minds on what God has brought us together here to accomplish as a church family and what he desires for our lives. And so I would encourage you to be a part of that in the weeks ahead as we look forward to what God has in store for us.
But today we’re talking about something significant that shapes our identity as a church family in the crucifix of Christ. And I just want to be honest in the beginning and saying, you know, I have thought about this. I have gone through this text over and over. I’ve spent time just meditating on this passage and my heart knows no matter what I say this morning is going to grossly under describe what Jesus has done for you in this passage.
Whatever degree you’ve ever been loved, been forgiven, experienced grace, mercy, all of that, there is no deeper place that you can experience it than the cross of Christ. And so I feel like no matter how descriptive and imaginative I make this passage this morning, it’s never going to do justice in what Jesus has done for us. The only way that truly happens, I think is the Spirit of God just illuminates it in our heart. And so I hope all of this passage that the thing that we find most inclined to do is really just worship the Lord in spirit and truth.
And we know in following the progression, if you’ve been with us over the last few weeks and following the progression that Jesus has gone into Jerusalem and he’s about to meet the end of his life. And I’m just going to tell you, if you ever prone to lie in your life, the time to just let the cat out of the bag is when it’s going to cost you. I don’t want you to lie ever, but if you do, if it’s really going to be painful, then just stop. Okay?
With Jesus, here he is at the end of his life, it is apparent that he is about to give up his life in these final moments. So Jesus, if you’re ever going to let the cat, the bag tell us you’ve just been leading us astray, that you are not who you’re claiming to be now is the time to do it, but rather than do that, Jesus doubles down on his identity.
In fact, I wouldn’t say it just doubles down, he more triples down in who he is. Mark chapter 15 is we’re going to look at the majority of that. We’re actually going to pick up at the end of chapter 14. But at the end of 14 Jesus starts to grab these identities of who he is. Again, he uses these titles going to the cross for us to just double down on the thought of who he is and why he’s coming to this world.
So in Mark 14:61 you see these opening comments coming from the high priest. Right at this passage of scripture where Jesus has been betrayed by Judas. He was captured in the garden of Gethsemane. He’s brought before the religious leaders and he’s placed on trial.
And it says this, but he kept silent and did not answer and the high priest was questioning him and saying to him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed one? And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of have him tearing his clothes. The high priest said, what further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. How does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death.
During Jesus’s day it was customary when there was blasphemy that they would tear the robes in demonstration of this. It is a great way to make your mama mad about the new clothes she just bought you, that you just ripped up. As a demonstration of this blasphemy that took place the high priest tears his robes. And the reason he tears his robes is because the comment Jesus made in verse 62.
Now, sometimes in the context of our culture, we don’t always understand exactly what’s being stated within the passage, but whatever it was, it was so extreme that it causes the high priest to just tear his clothes and walking around naked. I don’t know if he’s doing that or not, but, but he tears his clothes. And the statement Jesus makes his rich in Jewish theology. And this is where Jesus is identifying for us once again exactly who he is and why we should be placing our faith in him.
Two of the phrases that he uses in verse 62 is where Jesus expresses that. He says, I am. And he uses this phrase, the Son of Man. The Son of Man is a phrase that we’ve talked about before. I think in week three of this series together. It is the most used term that Jesus has identified himself with. Other people use terms to describe Christ, but the term Jesus preferred above all others was this phrase, Son of Man.
Son of Man comes from Daniel 7 where it talks about the Son of Man coming before the Ancient of Days. In describing the Son of Man in Daniel 7 it attributes characteristics to this Son of Man that only deity could possess. His ruling and reigning for all of eternity.
By the way, if you study that passage, Daniel 7 where it describes the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man, the Ancient of Days is attributed to Jesus in Revelation. The same description for the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7 is described of Jesus in Revelation. But what you see Jesus doing in this passage, as he’s shaping the identity of who he is.
The Son of Man, one of eternal authority, one who would be ruling and reigning. And so if you want to study a little bit more, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to that last sermon series that we did on this in this section, I think it was week three and we talked about it, but Jesus also uses this other identity, this statement, the I am.
The I am is a popular statement in the gospel of John. In fact, a lot of the gospel of John centers around this phrase of Jesus, this I am, Jesus refers to himself as the I am in John 8:58, John 10:30. This I am, goes all the way back to the Old Testament and Exodus 3.
In the Greek is ego eimi. Here in the Old Testament where Jesus is making this illusion. It’s the phrase Yahweh. And so Jesus, when he identifies himself, he’s saying that I am the I am. And in Israel’s history they would have known exactly where this phrase came from. Because this is where the first place God gives himself a specific name in scripture to identify who he is.
In Exodus 3:14, Moses is called to go to Egypt to declare it a Pharaoh to let the slaves, the Jewish people, free. And when Moses has given this calling, he says to God, God, who shall I say to them is sending me? And God says, say to them, I am, which I am, has sent you.
Jesus is identifying himself as this I am. This name of God is, he exists therefore he exists. It not only points to the eternal nature of God, but the sustaining force of who God is. What I mean by that is everything in creation, everything that was created in this world, including yourself, finds the purpose for his existence outside of itself.
But when it comes to God, the purpose for his existence is found within himself. Because he is the sustaining one. Everything created in this world is intended for God’s glory. You look at creation and you could just marvel at his magnificence on the precipice of the Grand Canyon, looking at the beach, the birth of a child, watching your favorite sports team and the athletes doing such incredible things. Go Patriots, right? Like how I sneaked that in? I’ll take your jokes later.
We love to be captivated with things that provoke us worship. You know, often in times we sell it short. We look at the object itself as if it’s the end, but rather everything designed in its purpose and intentions find its purpose outside of itself. You were created for a glory greater than you, but for God. And when God defines himself though he calls himself the I am, he is the self existent one, the self-sustaining one.
But when Jesus identifies himself as the I am, he’s not only pointing to the identity of the self existent one self-sustaining one. I think he’s also rooting himself in what exactly the I am represents to Israel historically. Because when Moses asked God, who do I say as sending him? And his told the answer is, tell them I am has sent you, that for Israel, the identity of the I am is one who takes them from bondage as slaves to freedom in him. And when Jesus goes to the cross, the phrase that he desires for us to know about him is the one who takes us from bondage in sin and freedom in him.
So Jesus uses this phrase, both the Son of Man, the eternal ruling one. And the I am, the God who has created us for his glory to bring us out of slavery into freedom in him for all of eternity. Jesus identifies himself as God. When you read about it in the Old Testament, whenever you read the word LORD in the Old Testament. L, O, R, D, when all of it is capitalized, sometimes it’s written in lower case, but when every letter is capitalized, it’s identifying LORD as in Yahweh. The I am.
So in Isaiah 43:10 this is what it says. You are my witnesses says the Lord, Yahweh or Jehovah. This word Jehovah and Yahweh, are actually the same word. Sometimes we use the word Jehovah and we probably even shouldn’t, we should always say Yahweh, it will save confusion. What happened when the word Yahweh was brought into other languages, when it got to the Germanic languages, this “Y” they had no Y in their language.
They had to replace the Y with the J because it’s the closest pronunciation. And the w became a V. so the Hebrews would spell it, Y, H, W, H. And they actually don’t even really know how it was pronounced. To the Hebrews it was so sacred they wouldn’t even utter that name. They didn’t want a blasphemy the name.
So rather than out of the name, they just wrote it in consonants. Some people believe that they couldn’t even remember how it was pronounced because no one wanted to utter the name of God. And so they would write it, Y, H, W, H. And over time we introduced the vowels into that name so we can pronounce it Yahweh. But when it went into Germanic languages, they replaced the Y with a J and the W with a V and so it was pronounced Jehovah, but it’s the same word. Yahweh. Jehovah.
You’re my witnesses, says the LORD, all capitalized LORD, and my servant who I am chosen that you may know and believe and understand that I am he before me. There was no God Elohim formed.
So in the Old Testament, there was this generic word for God. In fact, if you followed a false god, they would just refer to that as Elohim. Rulers and judges can sometimes be referred to as Elohims or god himself. But when God gave himself this sacred name, they knew that there was only one God liked this. There was only one God that existed. Israel was monotheistic. All other gods were just false gods and they were idols.
So Isaiah 43:10-11 it tells us you are my witnesses of the Yahweh. There was no God ever formed and there will be no god that ever exists. In fact, in Deuteronomy 6:4, the Shema which Israel would recite to themselves in the morning and in the evening Shema: Israel, Yahweh, Elohim, Yakutia, Acod. Hear O Israel, the Lord your God. The Lord is one.
So there was only one God and it is Yahweh who is the Elohim. And so when Jesus identifies himself this way, Israel being a monotheistic society, only believing and worshiping in one God, saw this as blasphemy and the high priest tears his robes and they desire to kill Jesus. But yet they can’t bring the execution against Christ. Rome had to do it and so Pilate is brought in by the high priests and the religious leaders in order to execute Jesus.
That’s where Jesus gives us his third title. It starts in Mark 15: early in the morning, the chief priest with the elders and scribes and the whole council immediately held a consultation and binding Jesus. They led him away and delivered him to Pilate. Pilate question him, are you the King of the Jews? Jesus answered him. It is, as you say.
Jesus avoided this title throughout his ministry because there were so many misconceptions as to what this represented. Israel’s mind was completely on the geopolitical ruling and reigning on this earth physically. And so rather than use that phrase, Jesus preferred the phrase Son of Man, which was rich in theology, and they could get a better grasp of who he was. But here in this passage, Jesus now assumes the title. He never verbally says the title, I am the King of the Jews. But he assumes that based on what Pilate says.
And then you see within the text of Mark, 15 Pilate wrestling with this identity. And can I tell you, as this story begins to unfold, there is a place within the story that I believe God wants you to connect to it in such a way that your own heart wrestles with the identity of Jesus. That you don’t just remain indifferent to what’s being discussed here in the scripture, but that your soul is provoked to respond.
You’re going to see within the context of the story, the crowds that surround Jesus, Pilate that’s there with the crowds, all of them being persuaded to not turn to Christ but rather follow after the religious leaders because of the authority that they’re carrying. How dangerous that becomes for us.
It says this in Mark 15:6, Now after the feast, he used to release, talking about Pilate, he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. The man named Barabbas had been in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. And Pilate answered them saying, do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews? For he was aware that the chief priest had handed him over because of envy.
So Pilate is thinking to himself, I mean it’s obvious that Jesus doesn’t deserve death, but he’s afraid of what the religious leaders are doing and the uprising it’s creating. And so Pilate does what he thinks is a no brainer. I’m going to get myself out of this position. I’m going to bring a murderer and I’m bring Jesus. And I’m going to give them a choice because they always get somebody set free at this time of the year. So you can choose the murderer or you can choose Jesus.
The story goes on in verse 11 but the chief priest stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with him who you call the King of the Jews? And they shout it back, crucify him. Pilate said to them, why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more, crucify him. Wishing to satisfy the crowd Pilate release Barabbas for them. And after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.
Here within the context of the story, you see the indifference. The crowd not necessarily cheering for Jesus’ crucifixion until the religious leaders want them to do so. The same thing with Pilate. As if in their minds right now, their interest is more in what makes them popular. We’re sort of indifferent and the religious leaders have good reason for doing what they want to do. So let’s just follow them blindly. Crucify Jesus.
In the context of this story you’re introduced to an individual that sort of vanishes from history after this event. Barabbas. What you know about Barabbas is that he is a murderer and so you see from the very beginning he’s not that great of a guy. Probably not one you want to hang out with in the back alley. Three months ago, he may have been a part of Alpine Bible church when it was a scary building.
In the NIV translation of this story you see in the gospel of Matthew, when he talks about Barabbas, he refers to him not just by the name Barabbas but his full name. It says, so when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked him, which one do you want me to release for you? Jesus Barabbas? Or Jesus who was called the Messiah? And this is the crux of the story where they don’t want you to remain indifferent to what’s taking place here because Jesus Barabbas represents something. It actually represents you.
Now I know that the kick within our natures and say, wait a minute, I’m no murderer. And probably not. It’s likely most of us, if none of us have killed somebody here. Jesus Barabbas is a reminded all of us back to Jesus’ sermon on the Mount when he said to us in Matthew chapter five, he who has had anger in his heart as committed murder. Yes, the physical act in our lives may not have been conducted by your hands, but the seed of what produces that is anger in that rest within all of us.
And so within all of our souls, we need the healing hand of Christ within us. Because when you study the name Jesus Barabbas, which is why I think the NIV text gives us the full name within this passage, his name literally means, “of our fathers.” And so what it’s talking about with Jesus is salvation. So what is saying to us is they’re trusting and they have a choice here to trust in what’s what’s been represented in their fathers or the saving Messiah who has come.
What will you follow? Will you go with what is trust with what’s been handed down to you from man? Or let go and trust in Christ? And you see any indifference of this crowd who they choose. Jesus Barabbas rather than Jesus Christ. You think of being Barabbas that morning. In Rome, you didn’t stay on death row for several years. Once you committed a crime, it was just days, if not moments before you were crucified. Barabbas that morning woke up a guilty man, having no hope, thinking he would lead himself to the cross. That he would be the one that was crucified between the two thieves. And yet now he finds himself being freed by Jesus. God the Father is about to treat Jesus like Barabbas so that Barabbas could be treated like Jesus.
So what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:21 he who knew no sin became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him so that when God looks at you, you are clothed in the purity that is in Christ. And so the context of the story as it leads us to the cross is to provoke our hearts to respond in a way to recognize that what Jesus is doing here is more than just the rescuing of Barabbas. But he is the representation of all of us. And he willingly goes.
The story unfolds, verse 22 that Jesus finds himself on the cross. So then they brought him to the place of Golgotha, which is translated the place of a skull. They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves and cast lots for them to decide what each man should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified in the inscription of the charge against them, read the King of the Jews on the top of his cross.
In Jewish history, 6:00 AM was the start of the day. So the third hour means it’s now 9:00 AM when Jesus is crucified. Who cares? Why does Mark tell you that? You think of everything that’s happening right now and how this is the most important event in all of history and Mark’s more interested in his watch than he is in the crucifix. Why? It’s kind of a bizarre thing. Jesus is being crucified. Hey guys, what time is it? 9:00 AM let’s write that down. Why 9:00 AM?
I think what Mark’s beginning to help us recognize is that the crucifixion of Christ was never out of the control of God. In fact, this moment was divinely designed. It wasn’t just a moment of happenstance. And the reason I say that is because for almost 2,000 years now, Israel has had the temple. Before that they had the tabernacle. And every day at the tabernacle or the temple, there was a perpetual sacrifice that took place. And that perpetual sacrifice happened twice during the day. Every day at the same time, a lamb was sacrificed.
In fact that that time was 9:00 AM. At 9:00 AM a priest would grab a chauffeur. He would go into this niche in the temple, and as he stood in that niche, you would blow this horn and that sound would echo throughout the Valley of Jerusalem and all of Israel would know that at the end of the sound of this horn that a priest stood ready upon the altar of sacrifice with a knife in hand held to the throat of a lamb.
When the sound would end, the priest would cut the throat of the lamb. Blood would flow. To Israel this was a solemn moment, but it’s also a moment in quietness that they would recognize God. Remember your promise to Abraham? I remember from the time of Abraham, God has promised his people through you all nations would be blessed. You know, in our culture today, we don’t like to talk about sin. Life’s all about you and we’re supposed to be happy and honestly, it’s not really healing for the heart because Jesus gives you a place to actually do something with it.
Just sweeping under the rug is not good. It’s not healthy. Jesus gives us a place to deal with it in all of Israel throughout the time of the temple, when would see blood flowing into this temple that happened every day. It was a reminder of ultimately one who had come as a sacrifice for all of their sins. And so when Jesus is dying exactly at 9:00 AM they hear the sound of the warm air coming out as Jesus, his hands Sans wide open, ready to receive his crucifix on the cross. Jesus is nailed. It’s not an accident.
Jesus knew this moment his entire life was about his death, and it even began in Genesis chapter three telling us through the seed of a woman, not to the seat of a man, through the seat of a woman I promised would come. And then in Mark chapter 15 her, excuse me, is should say chapter 15 verse 33 it says this, when the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice. Eli, Eli Lama, Sebastien I, which is translated, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? When some of the bystanders heard that, they begin saying, behold, he’s calling out for Elijah. Some ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, but it put it on a Reed and gave him a drink saying, let us see whether Elijah will come and take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last and the veil of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. Jesus in this passage gives this cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
He gives a statement from Psalm chapter 22 remember we, we’ve said together that what happens in the new Testament is a lot of revealing of what took place in the Old Testament and Jesus gives us quote from Psalm chapter 22 and during the life of Jesus, it was common for Jews to have the entire Old Testament memorized. And so when Jesus was giving this quote from Psalm chapter 22 he isn’t just saying focus on this statement he’s bringing to life all of Psalm chapter 22 because in the Jewish mind they would’ve been able to recite and memorize exactly what the Psalmist said and when you read through the Psalm chapter 22 you see this Psalm describing a suffering servant, exactly what Jesus is accomplishing on the cross. It says in verse seven and verse 12 that he’s being surrounded by, by his enemies. You get to the end of the S the Psalm, you see the one that’s being maligned against the one that’s being persecuted and crucified. He’s the one that comes back in verse 26 27 to the end of the Psalm in victory. But in verse six something interesting stated there. Jesus is talking about being forsaken. It says that he’s not even a man, but he’s a worm. When you study Israel’s history as it relates to the worm, the worm was significant to them, becomes the worm, is what they use to help decorate their temple.
They would take this worm, they would put it within the bucket and they would crush it, and that worm provided the dye for which they would stay in the drapes that hung in the temple. This dark red and Jesus and relating to this Psalm is identifying that he himself is being crushed, that his blood is being poured out for us, that it’s, it’s not by happenstance, but it’s intentional that at these very hours Jesus has given us life and everything that’s been done in Israel’s history was a foreshadowing of everything Jesus would ultimately fulfill for us. So at 9:00 AM he’s crucified and is crushed.
I think it might even be the idea that Isaiah in chapter one verse 18 said, had in mind when he said, though your sins are red, like crimson, color of the warm, they shall be white as wool. It tells us the hours again, when Jesus is crucified. It’s interesting when you go back in history, the six hour when darkness falls on this land, they, there’s actually journal entries. There’s a couple of journal entries during this particular time in history, that record from Africa, that darkness was over the land during this day and the ninth hour, Jesus gives up his life.
Oh my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And he breathes his last your, since you’re seeing the 9:00 AM the third hour, the priests would go into the temple. He would blow the horn and they would kill the lamb, sacrificed the lamb. That perpetual sacrifice didn’t just happen at 9:00 AM but it also happened again at 3:00 PM and the ninth hour for the Jews would be 3:00 PM it’s nine hours past 6:00 AM and Jesus again, by no accident is giving his life as a sacrifice. He does it when he’s being crucified. He does it when his life is given for the sacrifice of sense, but, but even on top of that, in Israel’s history, during the Passover celebration, they would begin the Passover celebration where the lambs would be sacrificed for the temple lamb after lamb would go into the temple for sacrifice between 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM I mean blood would be flowing from this temple and Jesus has giving his life at not only the exact hour of the perpetual sacrifice, but the exact hour of the Passover lamb when the sacrifices would begin,
it’s no accident. And then John 19 verse 30 John records a little bit more detail on Jesus’s crucifixion, but he says here, he said, Jesus said to tell a sty it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. When Jesus uses this phrase, and he is very intentional in what he’s accomplishing, giving his life, remember he uses the phrase, I am to identify who he is just as Israel was freed from slavery, so we would be freed from sin in Christ to enjoy that relationship with him for all of eternity. Then Jesus uses this phrase to TeleSign, not as any accident, that phrase to TeleSign as what was used when they would purchase a slave from the slave Margaret. That’s what would be stamped on the receipt when a slave was bought is what Jesus places on your life when you trust in him that you have been purchased for his purpose as he is paid for your sin on the cross and Jesus uses this phrase paid in full.
Tell us that and the sound of the Ram horn echoes throughout the land. Could you imagine how eerie this moment would have been? You see Jesus being crucified who John the Baptist has proclaimed the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world at the exact moment the horn blows. Jesus is crucified the exact moment Jesus gives up his life, the horn blows again and at that moment when they’re supposed to be offering this Passover land for sacrifice in the temple, the temple is just ripped into the wonder. The soldier at the cross says he truly was the son of God, and people ask the question, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, where did he go for those three days and the 12th century? This teaching started to emerge that said, Jesus went to hell for those three days, right? Where else would he go? Because he had to die for our sins. But I want you to know that is not biblical or correct. When Jesus died for your sins, the payment for your sins, Jesus owed Satan and hell nothing. The payment that he made was to the father. Let me half of you. And so when Jesus made that payment, that’s why it says to tell us, I paid in full. There was nothing else to make payment on. Jesus paid for it all on the cross. You want to really know what hell is. How isn’t a location? Let me say it like this. Heaven isn’t location. You don’t what makes heaven, heaven. It’s the presence of Jesus. Wherever Jesus is, God created you for that relationship with him for all of eternity.
When Jesus was on the cross, he experienced connected relationship with the father for all of eternity. And yet in this moment, I don’t feel, I just don’t even know how this happened, but he says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And so if heaven’s all about experiencing the joy, the presence of God for all of eternity, and what that if Jesus is separated from the father, as Jesus hangs on the cross, he is experiencing hell on earth. Jesus does that for you. So this word for to tell us I paid in full is for us to understand exactly what Jesus accomplished for us. And guys, this is why we say this is why we say you can do nothing to earn your salvation. And this is why we say it’s an insult, insult to God to even suggest that. I mean Galatians in Galatians chapter two says that to us, for righteousness can be achieved with the love. Loving Christ died needlessly because there is nothing more that you can add to what Jesus has already done for you now. Now, here’s, here’s the rebuttal to that, because people will look at that statement going to be like, what? What keeps somebody from living sinfully they need a bunch of rules, right?
Can I tell you if your presentation, the gospel is so grace heavy that people ask that question, that puts you in good company because Paul defines that very statement in Romans chapter six. Well, shall we do them? And he proposes that question, why wouldn’t we live like hell on earth and Jesus paid for all? Let’s just say his grace covers us and do what we want. And the answer is you would never do that. Why? Because you see, the love of Christ is poured out for you. How would you respond shamefully to him? That what provokes you in your heart and seeing this as to love and response and to worship in response and to draw near to him in response because he’s already paid for it for you. And so he says, whoever calls on the name of Lord God gives us a place.
Just as a Passover, lamb was sacrificed that you could apply the blood of the lamb to your life. Now, Jesus has been sacrificed for sin and for you to embrace what Christ has done and to respond to that in law just as he has loved you. It’s not because you’re made to do it. It’s not because of anything anyone’s ruling over you with an iron fist as Christ to set you free. Finally, that freedom has been expressed and the payment that has been paid, paid fully on on your behalf, and it tells us the bail was torn.
This veil was 20 feet wide, four inches thick, and he saw in the beginning when the high priest looked at the blasting of Jesus and he ripped his, he ripped his shirt to declare the blast. Me and some of compare the ripping of this bale, God’s ripping to declare the blasphemy of what was happening to Jesus and his crucifixion, but at the same time, what it’s demonstrating to us at the end of the sacrificial system, because Jesus is that ultimate sacrifice and a ripping of the, of the divide that exists between us and God because of sin. It’s no longer there because of Jesus.
So now in this moment, our faith wrestling event, staff burial, resurrection of Jesus. So how do you respond? This is the most important moment in all of history. And so the way you respond is I to just be indifferent like the crowd around Barabbas. Well, the heart of worship, looking at what Christ has done, not just something that just randomly happens, but how intentional this has become.
I mean to think in the declaration of all of the Old Testament from Genesis chapter three, the promising of of Jesus who was to come, all the prophetic statements made about Jesus to the detail of his death. All of the worship that’s been established from the temple and the law and the high priest. Everything pointed to Jesus. That’s why Jesus comes and he says, all of these things, I am the temple, destroyed the temple. In three days I will rebuild it. He is the one who fulfills all. I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law. Hebrews tells us that he is our high priest. Jesus has all of these things culminating in him that that this served an entire purpose, that the whole picture is being painted in these moments. That’s exactly what Colossians chapter two and verse 17 tells us that the temple and the Sabbath, that Jesus is the Sabbath, the all of it was created for us to see holistically Christ in everything cost. In chapter two verse 17 tells us, don’t don’t put the shadow of the the new moon and the festivals and the Sabbath. There were just shadows in comparison to who Christ is.
All of it finds a fulfillment in Jesus. In fact, after Jesus’s resurrection, it tells us that Jesus is walking on the road and he’s walking on these, these two strangers on the road to MAs, and Jesus starts to teach them about who he is and the way that he wants them to see the significance of this moment. He ties all of the Old Testament to him and it says this. Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them the things concerning himself in all of the scriptures, sang everything, everything.
It’s about me. 9:00 AM 3:00 PM all of it had a purpose. It’s about me. Why? So you don’t miss the significance of this moment and how your soul is to respond and understanding what God has done for you that you can experience eternal relationship with him starting now and forever. Try to think of a way to tie my heart to this this week because I thought I just kept the weight of grossly under communicating what happens there. It was just on me. I’m thinking, man, what’s apart from the cross of Christ? What’s the most significant thing I’ve experienced in my life?
I thought of that. Marriage is good. My wife just had to go out for a minute. So wedding was good. Tell her I told you that. Okay. Um, that, that was a monumental moment in my life. But one of the moments that probably scared me as much as I enjoyed was the birth of our first child.
When Grayson was born, I remember they became a moment in that room. Stays. Now we’re just there by ourselves. You know, we, we’ve lived in Utah for 12 years away from families. We’re there for the, your first child and you’re like a deer in headlights when that’s happening. And, and so I remember we’re in the hospital. All of a sudden there’s panic that sits in the room and it’s not between her and I, it’s between the medical staff. It’s like, Ugh, you guys do this for a living. So if you’re, if you’re panicking, we’re in trouble. Right. And, uh, it’s funny, as my mom’s a nurse, my dad’s, my stepdad’s an obstetrician. So it’s not like, you know, this is nothing I’m not unfamiliar with in my life, but, but we’re there in this room. They start the panic and I can see it’s, it’s amping up cause they’re trying to hurry up and get Stacy into the room to, uh, surgically remove the kid and, and get grace now as quickly as possible.
And I remember I just grabbed one of the medical doctors as their panic and a pull into him. Like, listen dude, stop freaking out man. This is not going to go turn a lot. Let my wife see this. And I’m like, use this better. Calm down. You know, just throw the life, because this is, this is a serious moment. I don’t want everybody just to stress out, but I just want to, whatever needs to happen, what’s happening? Let’s do it without, without freaking everybody out. Okay. And we get in there and they take Grayson out and when they pull him out, he’s got this huge blood blister on the back of his head because of trauma that he’s had. And they’re worried that that blood has, has gone into his brain. Because I guess the baby’s blood doesn’t quite acculate as fast as they would want it to and they feel like it can appear some of the skull cause the skull is soft and they’re talking about ICU and how traumatic that was and so we’re in this moment. It’s so stressful and they, they’re taking them to ICU and they want to test them out and it turns out everything was okay. I can remember after going through all that turmoil, just sitting there in that moment, just resting in it, right?
All that anticipation, all of that, build up, all of that, putting cribs together and hating Ikea for how many steps they involved and then you finally have a moment you just rest and at the same time you’re resting. You realize that this moment is so special because it’s also placed on your life. A bigger calling, snowing will no longer my am I just a husband and I’m a, I’m a father. And so you, you filled not just the weight, but the joy of that responsibility, how precious it is.
I think as best as I can relate it, that’s a lot of what happens around the cross of Christ. You can imagine Peter, James and John, they have all these hopes with Jesus and now they’re seeing it go down the toilet. They’re like, man, he’s being crushed. All the dreams that’s going away. What’s happening this tense moment freaking out and Jesus resurrected and now they see how the whole picture fits together. This wasn’t an accident.
This is what he intended from the beginning. No matter what this world holds, no matter how difficult it may seem, God’s working it all out. He’s holding me with him and this is why you can believe every promise that Christ gives you in scripture because he has massively worked on his promises from the beginning to bring into this moment of trusting in him, and this is what I love about Jesus. When he’s declaring who he is throughout scripture and all of the identities he says about himself, he is his temple, he is priest, he has law, he has true Israel. One of my favorites is a he is Sabbath because the word for Sabbath is rest. And when Jesus came and Matthew chapter 11 he says to the people that are being oppressed by religion, he says them come to me all you who are weary and heavy Laden and I will give you what?
Rest. Rest. Can I tell you? Jesus isn’t just one more thing you add to your week. It’s not the extra thing you have to put on that finally just breaks the back of all the things you have to accomplish this week. He has rest itself. It’s why Paul says in Colossians chapter three in verse 15 listen to this. This is a good verse. You can memorize this. When you walk out and you think about the cross of Christ, it says this, let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. Well, you know what it means to worship Jesus. I know the Christian life isn’t easy because people can align you for following after Christ, but let me tell you what it is.
When you come in this morning to worship God, if there’s something that you should experience of all of the things I can think about how to describe this, girls love and grace and forgiveness, all those things are good man. One of the things that we discover it at all, it’s painful.
Genesis three one sent in the worlds the things that they lose pace, but when Jesus lays down his life for you, the thing that he brings into your life and relationship with him, it’s pace.
So when you look at Christ, if you’re seeing it as something else, you’ve got to put on the list of things you’ve got to do this week. If, if, if, if it becomes about a task rather than about resting in him, can I tell you you’re doing it wrong because what? Jesus desires for your soul, it’s peace. Do you know why your soul can rest? Tell us style.
Tell us that it’s been paid in full when when you come before God, it’s not trying to impress him with all these things that you have to offer, what Jesus has provided for you as a place to come to him and rest there. There is nothing more I can do to bring you any more glory than the glory that you possess. Boy, you’ve done in that glorious providing a place for me to come unto you because of what you’ve done for me so that I can rest in your identity for what you have accomplished for me on cross Barabbas, Jesus became Barabbas that Barabbas could become Jesus.
Why? So? The peace of Christ could rule our hearts. That’s when it comes to worship this morning. Whatever turmoils in your soul, whatever struggles you face, ah, Oh Jesus is one of those stressors, rather a place to rest, a place to hope, a place to see that he has orchestrated it all for you so you can be comfortable in that relationship in him under an understanding that rest and the joy of that rest. There’s also a higher calling you have opportunity to share with this world.