Today’s passage: Luke 23:44-56
Helpful thoughts:
- The sixth hour is noon, the ninth hour is three in the afternoon. Darkness fell on the land for three hours as the cup of God’s wrath against our sin was poured out on Jesus.
- The curtain in the temple separated man from the holiness of God because of our sin. When Christ atoned for our sin, the veil was torn. (Hebrews 10:19-22)
- When Jesus declared, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” we see that fellowship between the Father and Son had been restored. This means the time of wrath had been completely fulfilled.
- The fact that Jesus was able to cry these things out showed he still had breath in his lungs…he laid down his own life. No one took it from him. (John 10:17-18)
- All of these events gave everyone, Gentiles and Jews alike, reason for pause and reflection. This was not a normal crucifixion.
- Jesus’ burial came only after His death was confirmed and continued to fulfill prophecy (Isaiah 53:9).
Questions to consider:
- Did Jesus pay the devil off so that we don’t have to go to Hell? Whose wrath did Jesus take? To whom was the payment given? Whose wrath will the devil have to endure? Is the devil in Hell enjoying punishing sinners or will he too be one of the punished?
- If Jesus paid the penalty of our sin, and God is entirely just, who exactly did Jesus die for? Did Jesus pay for someone’s sin who will have to pay for that sin again (God’s wrath already having been poured out) because they reject Christ? (John 10:14)
- How do the people in this passage model how we should respond to the cross? If we believe Jesus was innocent of sin, and we come to understand that it was our sin that put him there, what is the only right response?