Traveling the Rock Road

Some thoughts on Easter from the pen of a fellow “Traveler of the Rock Road” Dr. Mark Soto

Yesterday and Tomorrow, Christians will celebrate what is the cornerstone of the gospel and the Christian faith….the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Many will dress up and attend church (maybe for the only time this year) and we will recall a story as familiar to us as seeing a sunrise or sunset. But is that all this should be to us? A story repeated, sung about, and celebrated once a year?

At the heart of this is God in flesh! (Matthew 1) Jesus, who is fully God and fully man. Sin, the result of the fall (Genesis 3) affecting every aspect of the universe that God created and most significantly affecting mankind specifically me and you! Centuries of rebellious humans rejecting the Creator and His rule over the universe. The Romans, fulfilling the destiny of God when in Galatians 4:4 Paul said, “In the fullness of time!” And the necessary shedding of blood for the remission of sin and the redemption of mankind (Hebrews 9, and Galatians 4:5)

The horrifically graphic depictions in movies like the Passion of the Christ, try to capture the brutality of crucifixion but we are honestly too far removed from that time and culture to be able to fully understand just how horrible it was for our Savior. Add to that, if Romans 5:12 is true and death is the result of sin then because Jesus “knew no sin,” “did no sin,” and ultimately “became sin for us” death could not touch Him until sin was placed on Him! Thus when it is said of Him on the cross that He “bowed his head and gave up the spirit” in John 19 the word used for “gave up” means to hand over or deliver up. It is a verb that expresses the action of the subject (Jesus) and the fact that it was he that turned over His spirit (life force) willing it to leave and accomplishing the fullness of the effects of taking our sin on Himself….1st the spiritual separation from God the Father on the cross, and then his physical separation from His body in physical death.

I am profoundly amazed at this verb indicating that death was so foreign to his being because he was the God man that he had to will his spirit to leave even after fully absorbing the wrath of God for sin. Sin was not IN Him but was placed ON Him so that in His death our sin, my sin, would be paid in full! I cannot fully process how much love the Father has for us to send His Son into this world to pay the price for sin and to purchase not only my redemption but the redemption for all who would believe (1 Timothy 4:10).

Tomorrow, as we celebrate the resurrection, let us not just review the facts which are so familiar, but also consider the impact of what those facts mean to each of us who have exercised faith in that sacrifice…..eternal life now, and forever with Him, the one who died for us!! As the song says…”face to face with Christ, my Savior, face to face what will it be?” What will it be to see Jesus! I long to see His face, and experience His voice, and worship Him face-to-face……FOREVER!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!!! He Is Risen!!!