The Sacrificial Lamb

Friday, April 20th > Matthew 27: 45-50 What did the total darkness represent while Jesus was on the cross? Every ugly sin that every single person in the world who had lived and died before Christ came to the earth, and everyone who would come after. Every curse from every iniquity that was committed and passed on from one generation to another. It was all laid on Jesus so that He could be our Sacrificial Lamb. When God instituted the use of animals to stand in for the sins of the people, the priest would receive all the sins of a family, then lay those sins on the best sacrifice that family brought to the temple. He did this by laying his head on the forehead of the animal, symbolically transferring all their sins to that animal. This rendered the animal guilty and the family absolved or forgiven. Now the animal could be sacrificed, and God would accept that sacrifice for the rest of the year. But even while this ritual was being performed by the Jewish people, God knew it could not satisfactorily pay the penalty for sin, for the hearts of His people were still far from Him. So He produced His Own Sacrifice, the Only One worthy to take upon Himself the sins of the whole world AND draw Them to His Father's heart at the same time. And at that moment when it grew dark for those 6 long hours, God was literally turning His head away from that sin. Because God hates sin. Even when His own Son was carrying it, He could not look upon it. That's why Jesus cried out: "My God, my God! Why have You forsaken me?" The knowledge of how much went into the sacrifice Jesus made for us is mind-boggling. The fact that He would be rejected by the world was something He was already familiar with. But when His own Father turned His back on Him as He carried your sin and mine-- and He STILL went through with it-- makes me worship Him even the more. Thank You, Jesus, for being willing to go through all that... Just for me.