What is a cross?
A cross is a beam attached to a post to make a T. It was used by the Romans and others to kill people. How do people die on a T? Simple. They were whipped within an inch of their life, shoved through crowded streets, nailed naked to it while it was flat on the ground, and finally lifted up to the vertical position. The weight of their own body would pull against their nailed arms with such force the shoulders would be dislocated and their chest would be stretched to a permanent inhale. They could only breathe by pushing up with their nailed feet long enough to get a breath and then sink down again. Slowly, heat and exhaustion would do its work and the victim would die in terrible agony.
One Man…
About 2,000 years ago a man died on a cross. His name? Jesus. His care of the sick and poor had made him popular. His miracles of healing had made him famous. But his teaching of a radical form of righteousness had made him enemies. He called the religious leaders of the day fakers who pretended to be good in order to impress people, but were really just using religion as a way to satisfy their mean and selfish desires. They got scared when Jesus' popularity rose to the point that lots of people started to talk about making Jesus the king of Israel and so they decided to kill him. One night they had him secretly arrested. They held a trial in the middle of the night and condemned him to death. They had him on a cross by 9AM and he gave up his spirit at 3PM.
But if Jesus was God and could work miracles, how did they capture him?
The leaders thought they had outsmarted him. They had bribed one of Jesus closest followers to guide them and pounced in the middle of the night when He was out of the city and undefended by crowds. But in reality, Jesus had expected this. As he was going to Jerusalem before his arrest Jesus had said privately to his closest followers, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man [he commonly called himself the Son of Man] will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.” Matthew 20:18-19. When the soldiers arrived to arrest him Jesus had a chance to run, but rather "went forward" to meet his captors. Jesus knew it was going to happen, and he did not avoid it…but why?
Payment for Sin…
Imagine the moment as Jesus is lifted up on the cross and you hear his shoulders pop out of their socket and you look up at him…why is he there? What is he doing?
You or I would just be suffering and dying, but Jesus was doing something that none of us could do. He was paying for sin. While on the cross God punished Jesus for sin - not sin that He had committed, but sins that we have committed. God did this because he is just and no just judge lets sinners go free. Payment must be made for sin and since we have nothing to give God to atone for our sins, a righteous God can only condemn us to hell. However, because of his great love that he had for us Jesus went to the cross to pay for our sins so that we might go free. In the words of the Bible, “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities [sins] upon him was the chastisement [punishment] that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5.
The cross then is the scene of the greatest battle ever fought, with humanity itself at stake. The one perfect and sinless Son of God fought against sin and death and won.
"Through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." Hebrews 2:14 & 15.