32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals--one on his right, the other on his left.
Sandwiched between two malicious and cunning malefactors, the innocent is executed -parenthesized by the wicked – darkness momentarily surrounding the Light. My mind pictures an Oreo but nowhere near as sweet. Prophecy again fulfilled:
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah 53:8-9 (NIV)
Crucifixion carried with it both extraordinary pain and shame – more than any other torturous death at the time. Because Jesus was crucified between two thieves, he was treated not only as a transgressor but was also numbered with them. How like Jesus to place Himself in our shoes - numbering Himself with humanity in its entirety. All of us, sinful from birth, should have been the ones on that cross. Never forget or take lightly what Jesus has done for us.
“The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours. Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive – He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm...Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.” Oswald Chambers
Jesus’ enemies had considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God – because they hated Him and persecuted Him they wrongly assumed that God did as well. Big mistake! Scripture tells us:
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53:10 (NIV)
As John tells us in Revelation:
8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast--all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. Rev 13:8 (NIV)
Jesus’ perfect life culminating in His death satisfied the wrath of God for the sacrifice of man’s sins. He had to die to satisfy the righteous demands of God. He bore the punishment so that we did not have to. Those who believe are declared righteous by His completed substitutionary work. Because He died and rose again, those who believe, live.
“The very essence of Christ’s deliverance is the substitution of Himself for us – His life for ours!” Horatius Bonar
Peter gives us the appropriate response to this incomparable act of sacrifice by our Savior:
21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth."
23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:21-25 (NIV)
Christ presents us with a perfect example of patient submission to unjust suffering. We have been called for this same purpose. We are to follow Jesus, emulating both His character and His conduct - how far we as modern day believers have strayed from this call to holiness.
“An awakened heart trembles at the audacity of sin, and stands alarmed at the contemplation of its punishment. How monstrous a thing is rebellion! How direful a doom is prepared for the ungodly! My soul, never laugh at sin’s fooleries, lest thou come to smile at sin itself. It is thine enemy, and thy Lord’s enemy – view it with detestation, for so only canst thou evidence the possession of holiness, without which no man can see the Lord.” C.H. Spurgeon