Get ready to start a journey…a journey through the pages of the Bible and the pages of your life.
Mission accomplished? Only the Father and His willing Son saw beyond what looked like a miserable ending. That day Jesus took on His most important work. On the cross, He took our sins and paid our penalty. Then He cried out one word, “Tetelestai,” which means “paid in full,” and died. Mission accomplished!
Jesus’ question to the Father was a deep cry of His unfathomable love for us. Even when He felt forsaken by the Father, even when He didn’t know how much longer He could hold on, even when the pain was unimaginable, Jesus never gave up. He never gave in. Jesus paid for sin in its deepest and fullest penalty for you and me.
The resurrected Lord brings His cross-work to meet you wherever you are. Rich…and empty. Poor…and needy. Successful…and searching. Fallen…and struggling to get up. Jesus meets you where you are and carries you all the way to eternity.
The work of Jesus on the cross was applied to this condemned man. All his sin was laid on Jesus, and he passed from death to life. Such is the power of grace. Such is the fullness of forgiveness.
Too many people use the guilt and shame of sin as a barrier between themselves and God. Many believe they must clean up their acts before God will accept them. The problem with that thinking is this: no one can clean up their life on their own. Only Jesus can do that. Lay your sin—the sin He died for—before Him and let His forgiveness wash over your heart.
Exhausted by the beatings and floggings of the day, Jesus collapsed under the load. A man from Cyrene was forced to carry the cross for Jesus. Little did Simon of Cyrene know that the cross was actually for his sins…and yours and mine. Simon carried the cross to Golgotha, then laid it down for the Savior to become our sacrifice.