WHAT CHRIST ACCOMPLISHED AT THE CROSS
The section of scripture we have read is most affecting, speaking as it does of what took place at the cross of Jesus. There are other accounts in the gospels, and this one is particularly affecting. We sang about the cross of Christ:
‘’Tis in the cross of Christ we trace
His righteousness, yet wondrous grace’
And then,
‘But in the cross of Christ we see
How God can save, yet righteous be’
(Hymn 357)
The cross of Christ is a tremendous matter. It is striking that, in prophetic scriptures, so much is said in detail about what led up to the cross and what took place there. The Lord’s feelings in relation to the cross are spoken about, and that would emphasise the importance of what took place there. Every moral matter was settled. The Lord Jesus is recorded as saying, “It is finished”, John 19:30. Every moral matter that stood out between God and man was resolved there.
Leading up to the cross were His incoming and His life here. He trod the pathway of God’s will: all was accomplished by the Lord Jesus. Then His death on the cross was followed by His blood being shed. He was buried, and He was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt.12:40); then He was raised and He ascended. It was on the cross that the great moral question of sin and sins was resolved. We can read about it in detail here. It says that “they came to the place which is called Skull”. That would refer to the emptiness of man’s mind; it was there that they crucified Him. At the cross we find all that we are is exposed, and that exposure is in the light of all that God is. The light of God comes to us and exposes what we are, but that light also tells us about God – about His righteousness and His love. In Romans 5 it says, “but God commends his love to us, in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us” (v.8): we see that at the cross. Jesus was fully in accord with that in His mind and heart; He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. That was not a wishful request, because the Lord Jesus knew and was expressing what was in the heart and mind of God. He says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
Immediately before this He had been nailed to the cross. He Himself had said, “thus must the Son of man be lifted up”, John 3:14. The scripture says, “him, given up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye, by the hand of lawless men, have crucified and slain”, Acts 2:23. All that man was, and is, was exposed at the cross. All the different forces at work, the Roman authorities, the Jews, the crowd – all were exposed. Earlier in Luke 23 they said, “Crucify, crucify him” (v.21). Pilate says, “nothing worthy of death is done by him” (v.15). Yet the crowd “were urgent with loud voices, begging that he might be crucified” (v.23). Think of the awful exposure of what man was in that scene.
The soldiers crucified Him, alongside two malefactors, one on the right hand and one on the left. They put Jesus there with these robbers, unrighteous men. Amidst all of that, the Lord Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. The perfection of the Lord Jesus was seen in His whole life, but here at the cross the awfulness of man and the perfection of Jesus are brought into stark contrast. The prophet says, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, but he opened not his mouth; he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth”, Isa.53:7. The Lord Jesus said little, but what He did say was, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
The Lord did not answer the malefactor who spoke insultingly to Him. However, the other who said, “Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom” received His answer – “Verily I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise”. The cross brings into relief the perfection of Jesus. He was always the same: His love and grace were always the same, but He was tested at the cross in a way that never was before and never would be again. Then, after the three hours of darkness, He says, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit”. The love and grace and dependence of this Person were in complete contrast with all that was around Him at the cross.
What greater test could there be for man than all that led up to the cross, and then what took place there? The Lord’s perfection shone through. For every other man, there was failure. Think of Peter: no one was more zealous and passionate than Peter about following the Lord, and yet in the previous chapter it says, “Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he said to him, Before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter, going forth without, wept bitterly” (chap.22:61,62). Peter was not able, he learned that through bitter experience, and no other man is able, all have failed. It says in Romans, “There is not a righteous man, not even one” (chap.3:10). There is no one able for the testing of the cross apart from Jesus. He was able, morally able. The hymn says
‘No act of power could e’er atone,
No wonder-working word
Could, from the brightness of the throne,
Make love’s sweet voice be heard’
(Hymn 431)
There was no outward display of power when Jesus went to the cross, but what a display of moral power there was – the testing brought out the moral perfections of this sinless, spotless Person.
Of the crowd it says, “and the rulers also with them sneered, saying, He has saved others; let him save himself if this is the Christ, the chosen one of God”. What awful depth of human behaviour, the sneering, no doubt designed to humiliate. It was not enough that they put Him on the cross, they also sought to humiliate the Lord Jesus Christ. It all brings out the awful sinfulness of man’s heart. And as we consider that scene soberly, we have to come to it that what was exposed there in man, I find in myself: that is what we are. The hymn says,
‘’Tis in the cross of Christ we trace
His righteousness’ (Hymn 357)
The righteousness of God was satisfied by the perfect Offering, and our own unworthiness and dreadful moral state were exposed there. It says, “Now one of the malefactors who had been hanged spoke insultingly to him … but the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost thou too not fear God, thou that art under the same judgment? and we indeed justly, for we receive the just recompense of what we have done”. The “other” malefactor reminds us of the prodigal: “And coming to himself, he said …”, Luke 15:17. He realised what he was: the light of God had come into his soul, showing the righteousness of God and also bringing the realisation of what he was in the light of that. He understood something of the One suffering beside him, and he says, “Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom”. In a very short space of time he had received the most wonderful light, and he expresses it in this way.
What he says is remarkable. I trust, dear friend, if you have never done so before, that you would speak to the Lord Jesus about what you are as a sinner, in your sins; He knows all about you in any case. That is the glory of it, that the Lord Jesus Christ is God in His own person, and He knows everything about you. And yet even knowing all of that, He suffered and died for you: “in that, we being still sinners, Christ has died for us”, Rom.5:8. He did not wait for us to get better to die for us, or even wait until we realised that we were sinners. Christ died for me before I was a sinner in practice; He died for me before I put my faith and trust in Him.
We are also told that “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God's righteousness in him”, 2 Cor.5:21. It was on the cross that He was made sin: the perfect, sinless Offering was made sin. As having been made sin, He bore the wrath of a righteous and holy God against sin. That is what is referred to in our passage: “And it was about the sixth hour, and there came darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple rent in the midst”. In these three hours of darkness, the great atoning sufferings of the Lord Jesus took place. We cannot enter into them, but we are told about them, and we can have thankful hearts that He suffered there for me; He did it for me. He was “made sin for us”.
No one else could have endured such judgment; no mere man could atone for his own sins. These malefactors had been crucified because of the wrong things they had done; their outlook was hopeless. There was nothing they could do. They were not going to atone for their sins by dying: that is the hopelessness of man. We cannot atone for our sins in our lives, and we cannot atone for our sins by dying. “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom.6:23), but we cannot atone for our sins. What a hopeless situation! The scripture says, “None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him”, Ps.49:7. We cannot redeem ourselves; we cannot redeem anyone else; we cannot pay the price that is due because we do not have the means. But the Lord Jesus has suffered, and was made sin for us, and has died. If you put your faith and trust in His finished work, then He has borne your sins there on the cross.
He took on Himself the sins of those that believe as though they were His own. It was not a mere transaction, something at a distance: He took these sins on Himself; He suffered for each one. The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin (1 John 1:7), so we can say with authority that, if you have put your faith and trust in Christ and you are under the shelter of His blood shed on the cross, there is not a single sin of yours that was missed there. You are completely free in the presence of God, which is why in Colossians 1 it says He “made peace by the blood of his cross” (v.20). You can never have peace with God in your sins. We are so thankful for the work that has been done because Christ has borne everything, and it means that as believing we have peace with God. Every moral matter has been resolved on the cross.
“And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple rent in the midst”: as we have said, man can be free in the presence of God because Christ has suffered and died and borne God’s judgment on sin and the sins of those who trust Him. But the rending of the veil also shows that God is free to come out to man: God has now come out in blessing towards man. The scripture says, “righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ towards all”, Rom.3:22. God can now come out in His disposition of grace towards man, and righteousness is available freely; but to get the gain of that righteousness, you must put your faith in the work of Jesus. It goes on to say there, “for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat” (vv.23-25). God has come out and He has set Christ forth as a mercy-seat. That is what God is doing in the gospel: He is setting Christ forth as a mercy-seat. God is telling you about the Lord Jesus Christ and His work, as a result of which redemption and justification are available freely by His grace. What a wonderful message, dear friend! The great moral basis of all this blessing was laid at the cross.
On the cross, His blood was shed. We read, “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”, 1 John 1:7. That is another matter that was accomplished on the cross. The scripture says, “for in him”, that is, in Jesus, “all the fulness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to itself, having made peace by the blood of his cross – by him, whether the things on the earth or the things in the heavens”, Col.1:19,20. Because of the work that Christ has done, and the perfection of that shed blood of His, He has made peace so that men can be reconciled to God. He has “made peace by the blood of his cross”; that happened on the cross. We read of that in John 19: “The soldiers therefore … coming to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water” (vv.32-34). Think of the contrast there: the soldiers saw He was already dead, and what did they do? One of them “pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water”. Think of the malice and hatred of man: there was no need to pierce Him with a spear, but that is what man is. We are not told what went through that soldier’s mind when he pierced the Lord’s side, but we are told that there came out blood and water. It is the divine answer, the shedding of the blood of a perfect, holy, righteous Man. It speaks of that in Hebrews: “the blood of the Christ, who by the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God” (chap.9:14). He was the spotless, perfect Offering. What a contrast to man in his sins and cruelty!
Then there is another great matter. While in Colossians peace is made between God and man, in Ephesians, peace is spoken of as having been made between men. The verses in question are similar, but they differ. Ephesians says, “For he is our peace, who has made both one” (chap.2:14). That refers directly to Jew and Gentile, but it applies to anyone. The apostle goes on to say, “that he might form the two in himself into one new man, making peace; and might reconcile both in one body to God by the cross, having by it slain the enmity” (vv.15,16). What differences exist between people, but enmity has been annulled in His flesh: that also was accomplished on the cross. The first man, man according to flesh, was judged at the cross and removed in the burial of Christ. The guilt of my sins was borne there, and He was made sin for us there, but the whole order of man that sinned was dealt with. Because of the work of Christ on the cross, there is a glorious solution to the difficulties that exist between one person and another; it was all dealt with at the cross too. He made peace between man and God, but also provided the basis of peace between believers. The scope of what was accomplished at the cross is an amazing matter.
In Philippians 2 we are told about the kind of man that God loves. Jesus is spoken of: “who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied himself, taking a bondman's form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”, Phil.2:6-8. That is morally the kind of man that God is looking for, and He found it in Christ, the One who became obedient. Before He came into manhood, in deity He was not in a condition to which obedience applied. But as coming into manhood He took up that condition in perfection, and He was obedient. He did the will of His God and Father, “becoming obedient even unto death”. Think of what obedience meant to Jesus, who, because of who He is, knew all that lay before Him. He went on to the cross knowing what would take place, and knowing that He was going to be made sin. What perfection is seen in the Lord, knowing that He was going to be made sin, the thing that He hated the most, yet continuing in perfect obedience.
We can have little understanding of what that meant for Him; He felt things perfectly and yet He was “obedient even unto death, and that the death of the cross”. In our sinful condition we do not feel things as He does. Then that passage goes on, “Wherefore also God highly exalted him” (v.9). What was accomplished on the cross by the obedience of Jesus, and the manner in which He did that work, was so pleasing to God that He “highly exalted him”. There is a great moral consequence: God could do nothing else but highly exalt such a Person. We see the importance and the immensity of what was accomplished on the cross – for us, yes, but for God. What Christ did for God is a greater thought. I cannot say much about it, but we know that all that God desired to find in man He found in Christ, and all that God had in His heart for man in blessing He is now free to bestow because of what Christ has done.
We sing the hymn:
‘O the love of God is boundless,
Perfect, causeless, full and free!’
(Hymn 212)
God’s love is causeless, but it can only rest on us on a righteous basis. God can come out in blessing to man in the way that He desired only because of the work of Christ on the cross. That is what Jesus has secured in going to the cross. When He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” He was fully in accord with the will of His God and Father; He was making that will known. He upheld the righteousness of God, making it known, and also fully showed the love of God. God wants you to come to know Him, and the Lord Jesus wants you to come to know the Father too. Dear friend, come now to know the love of God, and experience what it means to be righteous in the sight of God. The righteousness of God is available to you because of what Christ has done, not because of anything that you can do. It is all available in Christ. Simply put your faith and trust in His work and come to God in repentance. I trust that you know Him.
Christ is no longer on the cross; He is no longer in death. He is risen and ascended, and the Holy Spirit has come from the Father and the Son. The Lord speaks of this in John 4: “If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that says to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and hewould have given thee living water” (v.10). Jesus would give you living water, and that is the gift and the power of the Holy Spirit. You can enjoy this great blessing; you could never have known it if it had not been for what Christ did on the cross.
I trust that you know Him for yourself. May the Lord bless these few simple thoughts, for His name’s sake.
Preaching of the gospel, Malvern
Mark Grant
6 April 2025