And from Jesus Christ,
...the first begotten of the dead...
Unto Him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in His own blood.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities:
the chastisement of our peace was upon Him;
and with His stripes we are healed.
For ye are bought with a price:
Revelation 1:5/Isaiah 53:5/1 Corinthians 6:20
"All heaven and the unfallen worlds had been witnesses to the controversy.
With what intense interest did they follow the closing scenes of the conflict. They beheld the Savior enter the garden of Gethsemane,
His soul bowed down with the horror of a great darkness.
They heard His bitter cry, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." Matthew 26:39.
As the Father's presence was withdrawn, they saw Him sorrowful with a bitterness of sorrow exceeding that of the last great struggle with death.
--The bloody sweat was forced from His pores, and fell in drops
upon the ground.
--Thrice the prayer for deliverance was wrung from His lips.
--Heaven could no longer endure the sight, and a messenger of comfort was sent to the Son of God.
Heaven beheld the Victim betrayed into the hands of the murderous mob, and with mockery and violence hurried from one tribunal to another.
Heaven viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon the cross, blood flowing from His wounded temples, and sweat tinged with blood standing upon His brow.
Heaven beheld the Victim betrayed into the hands of the murderous mob, and with mockery and violence hurried from one tribunal to another.
Heaven viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon the cross, blood flowing from His wounded temples, and sweat tinged with blood standing upon His brow.
--From His hands and feet the blood fell, drop by drop, upon the rock drilled for the foot of the cross.
--The wounds made by the nails gaped as the weight of His body dragged upon His hands.
--His labored breath grew quick and deep, as His soul panted under the burden of the sins of the world.
All heaven was filled with wonder when the prayer of Christ was offered in the midst of His terrible suffering,—"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34.
Yet there stood men, formed in the image of God, joining to crush out the life of His only-begotten Son.
What a sight for the heavenly universe!"
E.G.W.
His own religion crucified Him;
and thus He presented Himself,
the willing victim of our sins,
to be rent in soul,
mangled in flesh,
broken in heart,
that He might show us the Father,
and lead us back to our Father's house."
George D. Herron
In the Garden of Gethsemane
"As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, 
In the wilderness of temptation the destiny of the human race had been at stake. Christ was then conqueror.
Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle."
And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to
be troubled and deeply distressed.
be troubled and deeply distressed.
And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.
His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.....
E.G.W./Mark 14:33,34Luke 22:44
E.G.W./Mark 14:33,34Luke 22:44
What Was It All For?
Point of Christ's Mission:
1) To Live a Life WITHOUT Sin
2) So He could Die for OUR Sins
Point of the Cross:
---God's Physical Laws are tightly wound and any deviation results
in destruction (such as the nuclear force that holds atoms together-if it was off a fraction either way we wouldn't have carbon required for life)
---God's Moral Law is also tightly wound. When we deviate it's called Sin (we too are destroyed by death)
---Hence, the Point of the Cross -- to make an exception.
Gospel Simplified:
--Christ Lived the Life we should Live
--Christ Died the Death we should Die
--Hence, weaving a perfect Robe of Righteousness for us
1) To Live a Life WITHOUT Sin
2) So He could Die for OUR Sins
Point of the Cross:
---God's Physical Laws are tightly wound and any deviation results
---God's Moral Law is also tightly wound. When we deviate it's called Sin (we too are destroyed by death)
---Hence, the Point of the Cross -- to make an exception.
Gospel Simplified:
--For God so loved the world,
--He gave His only begotten Son,
--that whosoever believeth in Him
--should not perish,
--but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Gospel Summarized:--Christ Lived the Life we should Live
--Christ Died the Death we should Die
--Hence, weaving a perfect Robe of Righteousness for us
For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature,
shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38,39
Messianic PSALMS
Psalm 2
"Psalm 2 also clearly describes Christ. He is called the Lord’s “anointed” (Messiah, v. 2), “king” (v. 6), and “Son” (v. 7).
"Psalm 2 also clearly describes Christ. He is called the Lord’s “anointed” (Messiah, v. 2), “king” (v. 6), and “Son” (v. 7).
Verse 12 instructs us to “Kiss the Son.” The word kiss, in this context, means to worship. Since the Scriptures clearly teach that we are not to worship any man, the Son must be God."
Fred Hartman 
[MUSIC] Kiss The Son by Steve Camp
{Click on Link}
Psalm 22
"The first clue that Psalm 22 deals with the suffering of Christ is found in the first verse: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” While hanging on the cross, suffering and near death, Jesus cried out these very words (see Mt. 27:46).
The Psalmist wrote, “I am poured out like water … My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws” (vv. 14–15). John quoted Jesus’ simple statement, “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28).
“They pierced my hands and my feet” (v. 16). Although the passages describing the crucifixion do not specifically mention nails being driven into Jesus’ hands and feet, the Apostle Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn. 20:25).
The Psalmist said, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (v. 18). According to the Apostle John, an eyewitness to the crucifixion, this was fulfilled with exacting detail: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did” (Jn. 19:23–24)."
Fred Hartman
"The first clue that Psalm 22 deals with the suffering of Christ is found in the first verse: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” While hanging on the cross, suffering and near death, Jesus cried out these very words (see Mt. 27:46).
The Psalmist wrote, “I am poured out like water … My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws” (vv. 14–15). John quoted Jesus’ simple statement, “I thirst” (Jn. 19:28).
“They pierced my hands and my feet” (v. 16). Although the passages describing the crucifixion do not specifically mention nails being driven into Jesus’ hands and feet, the Apostle Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (Jn. 20:25).
The Psalmist said, “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (v. 18). According to the Apostle John, an eyewitness to the crucifixion, this was fulfilled with exacting detail: “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said, therefore, among themselves, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did” (Jn. 19:23–24)."
Fred Hartman
[MUSIC] Death Of A Son by Michael Card
{Click on Link}
Luther Paints the Scene
And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:15"Christ hung upon a cross;
He was not offered in a temple.
He was offered before the eyes of God,
and there He still abides.
The cross is an altar in a spiritual sense.
The material cross was indeed visible,
but none knew it as Christ’s altar.
--His prayer,
--His sprinkled blood,
--His burnt incense...."
Martin Luther
7 Articles of Furniture in the Sanctuary
& 7 Last sayings of Christ on the Cross
Sanctuary: Altar of Burnt Sacrifice (Outer Court)At the Cross: Father Forgive Them (the point of His Sacrifice)
Sanctuary: Brazen Laver of Water (Outer Court)
At the Cross: Today thou shalt be with Me in paradise (Becoming one with Christ via Baptism)
At the Cross: I thirst
Sanctuary: 7 Branch Candlestick (Inner Court)
At the Cross: Woman, Behold Thy Son (God's people-to look up and Behold the Cross shining out to the world)
Sanctuary: Altar of Incense (representing communicating via Prayers with God's) (Inner Court)
At the Cross: My God, My God, Why hast Thou Forsaken Me? (He offered up a Prayer, communicating with God)
Sanctuary: Ark of the Covenant (Most Holy Place)
At the Cross: Father into Thy Hands I commit My spirit (Ark of the Covenant -where the Law was kept- Obedience / Submission to God)
Sanctuary: Judgment Seat (Most Holy Place)
At the Cross: It Is Finished (Judgment Seat Decree)
[MUSIC] Take Me In by Petra
{Click on Link}
The World Christ Came Into
But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman....
Galatians 4:4
"In the time of Jesus Christ, you might have beheld the earth covered with the slime of pollution —
---Sodom on a large scale, corrupt, filthy, depraved, indulging in vices which We dare not mention.
---We find the men prostrating themselves before blocks of wood and stone, adoring ten thousand gods more vicious than themselves.
She would not worship God.
---She would not bow down to him who is “clearly seen,” but she worshipped any creature; the reptile that crawled, the crocodile, the viper, everything made into a ceremony.
---The greatest crime might be exalted into a religion; but true worship she knew nothing of. Poor reason! poor wisdom! How art thou fallen from heaven! like Lucifer — thou son of the morning — thou art lost."
Charles Spurgeon
[MUSIC] Immanuel by Michael Card
{Click on Link}
Enthroned, Crowned & Glorified
"An idea has long possessed the public mind, that a religious man can scarcely be a wise man. It has been the custom to talk of infidels, atheists, and deists, as men of deep thought and comprehensive intellect; and to tremble for the Christian controversialist, as if he must surely fall by the hand of his enemy. 
--the sum of wisdom;
--an epitome of knowledge;
--a treasure-house of truth;
--and a revelation of mysterious secrets.
In it we see how justice and mercy may be married; here we behold inexorable law entirely satisfied, and sovereign love bearing away the sinner in triumph.
Our meditation upon it enlarges the mind; and as it opens to our soul in successive flashes of glory.
Ah, dear friends! if ye seek wisdom, ye shall see it displayed in all its greatness;
not in the balancing of the clouds,
nor the firmness of earth’s foundations;
not in the measured march of the armies of the sky,
nor in the perpetual motion of the waves of the sea;
not in vegetation with all its fairy forms of beauty;
nor in the animal with its marvellous tissue of nerve, and vein:
nor even in man, that last and loftiest work of the Creator.
But turn aside and see this great sight — an incarnate God upon the cross; a substitute
--atoning for mortal guilt;
--a sacrifice satisfying the vengeance of heaven;
--and delivering the rebellious sinner.
Here is essential wisdom;
Enthroned,
Crowned,
Glorified.
Admire ye men of earth."
Charles Spurgeon
[MUSIC] Man With The Nail Scars by David Meece
{Click on Link}
FAINTING FORM of the mother of Christ
"While the two thieves wrestled in the hands of those who stretched them upon the cross, Jesus made no resistance.--The mother of Jesus looked on with agonizing suspense, hoping
that He would work a miracle to save Himself.
--She saw His hands stretched upon the cross--And now the hammer and nails were brought, and as the spikes were driven through the tender flesh and fastened to the cross, the heart-stricken bore away from the cruel scene the fainting form of the mother of Christ.
*The eyes of Jesus wandered over the multitude that had collected
together to witness His death, and He saw at the foot of the cross John supporting Mary, the mother of Christ. She had returned to the terrible scene, not being able to longer remain away from her Son.
*The last lesson of Jesus was one of filial love. He looked upon the grief-stricken face of His mother, and then upon John; said He, addressing the former: "Woman, behold thy son!" Then, to the disciple: "Behold thy mother!" John 19:27.
*John well understood the words of Jesus, and the sacred trust which was committed to him. He immediately removed the mother of Christ from the fearful scene of Calvary. From that hour he cared for her as would a dutiful son, taking her to his own home.
The perfect example of Christ's filial love shines forth with undimmed luster from the mist of ages. While enduring the keenest torture, He was not forgetful of His mother, but made all provision necessary for her future."
E.G.W.
*The eyes of Jesus wandered over the multitude that had collected
*The last lesson of Jesus was one of filial love. He looked upon the grief-stricken face of His mother, and then upon John; said He, addressing the former: "Woman, behold thy son!" Then, to the disciple: "Behold thy mother!" John 19:27.
*John well understood the words of Jesus, and the sacred trust which was committed to him. He immediately removed the mother of Christ from the fearful scene of Calvary. From that hour he cared for her as would a dutiful son, taking her to his own home.
The perfect example of Christ's filial love shines forth with undimmed luster from the mist of ages. While enduring the keenest torture, He was not forgetful of His mother, but made all provision necessary for her future."
E.G.W.
[MUSIC] Mary's Song by Dallas Holm
{Click on Link}
Which was the Greater Work?
"The doctrine of redemption by Jesus Christ is a glorious doctrine; it is the marrow and quintessence of the gospel, in which all a Christian’s comfort lies. Great was the work of creation,
but greater the work of redemption;
it cost more to redeem us than to make us;
in the one there was but the speaking of a word,
in the other the shedding of blood.
The creation was but the work of God’s fingers (Psalm 8:3).
Redemption is the work of His arm (Luke 1:51)."
Thomas Watson 
[MUSIC] I Believe by Geoff Moore
{Click on Link}
--He came to "magnify the law" and to "make it honorable." (Isaiah 42:21).
Not alone that the inhabitants of this world might regard the law as it should be regarded; but it was to demonstrate to all the worlds of the universe that God's law is unchangeable.
--Could its claims have been set aside, then the Son of God need not have yielded up His life to atone for its transgression.
.jpg)
*And the sacrifice to which infinite love impelled the Father and the Son, that sinners might be redeemed, demonstrates to all the universe—what nothing less than this plan of atonement could have sufficed to do—that justice and mercy are the foundation of the law and government of God."
E.G.W.
