[Pastoral Note: I encourage you to read this out loud with your family and follow up by asking questions about Christ’s death and resurrection for us.]

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”” — Luke 22:42

Thus, Christ’s agony had begun. It did not begin when His hands were pierced, nor when He was scourged by the Roman garrison. It did not begin when He was denied by His disciple Peter, and not even at the betrayal of His other disciple Judas. Christ’s agony began in Gethsemane beneath the weight of fervent prayer as He anticipated the cross.

Oh! — to think why He was in so much agony. We know! He would face the unprecedented wrath of God for the sins of the world and the unparalleled savagery of crucifixion as He willingly bore it all while dying on the tree. He would become a curse for humanity, and as the prophet Isaiah said, would be cut off from the land of the living even though He was righteous and innocent.

Yes, Christ’s agony was extreme and unique. If our Lord’s agony could be experienced by others, there isn’t a man on earth and in all of history that would be able to keep his courage. Sinful man would fly out of the Garden of Gethsemane like a bird let out of a cage. But not Christ. Not our sinless Lord! He stayed right there on His knees wrestling with His Father, with His human will, and His mission. Indeed, His prayerful agony was so grueling that He broke the blood capsules along His brow and sweat out great drops which the soil beneath Him received just as they did the blood of Abel. Tell me — have you ever had to bleed in prayer? Our Lord Jesus has.

And to think of all that could discourage our Lord Jesus from the cross! Unbearable pain is enough! Forsaken by His heavenly Father is enough! Yet to add injury to agony, He was alone. His disciples decided to catch a wink of sleep for their weak flesh. His rogue disciple, Judas, had already been transformed into the Son of Perdition and was possessed by the devil himself — the declared enemy of Christ. Yes, Christ’s agony was so severe it took a special angel from heaven to strengthen Him during this time of anguish. And yet, as the author of Hebrews says, it was for the joy set before Him to endure the cross in order to make us sons and daughters of God!

Suddenly! — in the distance — the noise of armor clanking together and the subtle flicker of blazing torches could be sensed. The disciples were abruptly woken by the stern and authoritative voice of Jesus:

“Wake up! Why do you sleep? The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners! Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand." (Matthew 26:45-46; Luke 22:46)

One can hardly imagine how the disciples processed those words. And how foolish they must have felt to still be rubbing their eyes from slumber while a Roman detachment of troops had surrounded their Master with swords and torches! And alas! — their confusion as they observed in the midst of the Romans one of their own — Judas! It was he who led the charge for the price of greed and came forward to kiss his Master on the cheek with nothing but a superficial greeting.

Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come? Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”” (Matthew 26:50; Luke 22:48)

Judas said not a single word in reply. The loving voice of His Master could hardly prick his heart to recant. Judas was Satan’s now. Heartless and without hesitation Judas steps back into throng of soldiers and leaves Christ once and for all. Thus Christ was marked and betrayed by one of His own. Oh how Jesus loved him! — and we cannot fathom the torment Christ felt to know His disciple was now lost forever.

Nonetheless —

“Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am!” (John 18:4–5)

Yes! Christ is the I AM, the true and living God, the King of kings and Lord of lords! At His declaration of self revelation the Roman soldiers were affected by unspeakable power at His majesty. They involuntarily drew back and fell to the ground. Even Judas, who was possessed by the great enemy, that serpent of old, the devil, could not find the will to stand, but found himself bowing.

Once again, Jesus said to them: Whom are you seeking?

I wonder: were the Roman soldiers still on the ground? Or perhaps they were picking themselves up and dusting off their knees? We do not know, but we can be sure they braced themselves this second time.

“Jesus of Nazareth", was their reply. Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way,”” (John 18:8)

The soldiers made no agreement, but instead marched toward Jesus to arrest him. Jesus yielded, knowing it was His destiny and the will of His Father, but His disciple Peter did not see it fitting. Abruptly, he draws his sword and wields it to strike a fatal blow to his nearest target. To Peter’s dismay he misses, having only succeeded in slicing off an ear rather than severing off a head. Had our Lord not responded in immediate wisdom and grace to heal the casualty, the Romans may have retaliated in drastic measure and Gethsemane would have become the start of a bloody political war, rather than the fulfillment of prophetical love.

The Great Shepherd was thus struck as He willingly heeded to the fetters and delivered Himself over into the hands of savage wolves. The disciples fled. The sheep were scattered.

And we too are represented in that scattering, for —

“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way (Isaiah 53:6)

Having endured a grueling night of trial and false accusations by the religious leaders who so desperately wanted Him dead, the Lord Jesus was handed over to Pontus Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pilate was a coward, a desensitized ruler with a debased mind, who only had left the feeling of his ego to tickle which fueled his every action. Even after God graciously warned him through his wife in a dream to have nothing to do with such evil, Pilate sought the glory of man more than the glory of God. He presented Jesus alongside of a cold blooded murderer named Barabbas to give the degenerate crowd a choice on whom to release, as was his custom each year.

Pilate desired to release Jesus, but he could hardly lead, let alone persuade, the crowd. The whispers of the evil one were in their ears as the chief priests stirred up the people against the true Chief Priest — the High Priest of heaven — Jesus. The multitudes, therefore, found themselves preaching the sentence of their own condemnation as they asked for the release of a guilty godless man instead of the Gracious God-Man; for a slave of sin instead of the King of Righteousness; for a man who was a type of Antichrist, whose name meant son of the father, Barabbas, in exchange for the true Christ, who was The only begotten Son of the Father full of grace and truth, Jesus!

“Not this Man, but Barabbas! Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas!” (John 18:40, Luke 23:18)

“Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” So they cried out again, “Crucify Him!” Then Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they cried out all the more, “Crucify Him!”” (Mark 15:12–14)

“They were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested.” (Luke 23:23–24)

Jesus was thus sentenced to death as He had foretold and as was His mission in being the sin offering for the world. Just as the scapegoat who was set free into the wilderness while the other was slaughtered, as prescribed on the Day of Atonement in the Law of Moses, so too do we see Barabbas the guilty run free as the scapegoat while Christ the innocent was led as a lamb to the slaughter.

The Roman soldiers gloried in their disgracefulness. Hungry for carnage and renown for bloodthirstiness, they received another sufferer for their heartless games. Brutality was their crown as they inhumanely beat and battered Jesus to a bloody pulp, marring Him beyond the visage of a man, using tools of torture invented by demoniacs. Christ’s blood was splattered on their armor and stained all their clothes as they scourged Him.

But the wicked are never satisfied! Reveling in their violence they resort to disgusting condensation as they crown the King with a coronet of thistles using a devious twist that shredded our Lord’s scalp. Proceeding in their devilish mockery, they clothe the bloodied Christ in a robe of purple and pretend to salute Him. Their feigned worship was accompanied with spitting their foul drool on the Lord; and their masquerade of bowing was consummated with blowing a firm reed across Jesus’ head.

When the soldiers’ monstrous depravity was satisfied, they stripped Jesus and led Him out to be crucified.

In no small vexation, the Lord Jesus accomplished the decimating climb to the peak of Golgotha — the Place of a Skull — with His assigned cross on His back, and with the aid of an innocent bystander named Simon, who no doubt was perplexed at what he had just done.

Without even a moment to catch His breath, Jesus was rolled over onto the splintered cross and aggressively stretched out by limbs, reopening His wounds and grating His already raw back. One solider ties Him down as another follows with a hammer and a prolonged metal stake.

Jesus feels the course edge of this great nail pressed firmly into His hand followed immediately by a merciless blow as He was pierced through and pinned to the old rugged cross. And again — and again. Then He feels the compression sensed in His other hand as He was pierced through again, and again. And then, another beastly spike was felt battering ruthlessly through His feet, shattering the nearby bones and ripping the tendons, as they were fastened into the wood.

“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

As His cross was raised up, the jolting of the rise put unceasing pressure upon His wounds, and soon the gravity of His body pulled Him down relentlessly against the stakes which were driven through His hands and His feet. Yet, this was not the only weight He bore. Christ in that moment became our eternal sin offering. One by one God placed on Him the sins of the world — your sins and my sins — all sins, past, present, and future — and there on the cross He bore them and satisfied all of God’s wrath against us. Therefore —

“…it pleased the LORD to crush Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin…” (Isaiah 53:10)

From the third hour to the ninth hour He hung on that cross, enduring our shame and bearing our sins, forsaken by God His Father until the appointed time of our justification was complete.

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”” (Matthew 27:46)

The divine mission was complete. All prophecy had been fulfilled. Sin was defeated! The head of the Serpent was crushed! And the Redemption of mankind was bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Sons of Adam, no more! — to those who confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts that Jesus Christ is Lord unto salvation, to them He gives the right to become sons of God!

And having thus fulfilled all things, Jesus cried out:

“It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” (John 19:30)

Christ was buried in a rich man’s tomb, and it was not yet understood by His disciples that He should rise again the third day. Did not the prophet Isaiah say that He, the crucified One, would see the labor of His soul and be satisfied? Did not the prophecy of Hosea say:

““I will ransom from the power of the grave…. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction!” (Hosea 13:14)

The disciples did not understand this. They did not understand that it was impossible for death hold the Lord of Glory — the Resurrection and the Life.

Friday was full of horror and Saturday, bitter weeping. But soon, Sunday morning would come! Before the sun rose over the horizon, the Son rose from the grave! Little did they know then that their sorrow would turn into dancing and their grief into joy.

But as they stepped into that empty tomb and saw not the Lord’s body — new hope filled their hearts.

“The angel said to them: You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen!” (Mark 16:6)

Redemption and Resurrection! Beloved, this is what we celebrate this Good Friday and Eastertide, for in Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been born again into new life in Him.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)

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