It would be only natural to assume that if a man’s life ended splayed across a Roman gibbet, that he had failed catastrophically in life and got exactly what he deserved — so it was widely believed in Jerusalem that fateful day.

More correctly, it ought to be called, “Bloody Friday.” There is a gruesome reality behind those shiny crucifixes hanging in countless churches. We commemorate it in two weeks.

In his book, Cracking the God Code, author Michael Saward wrote:

“Blood and flies and humiliation and pain, God, the pain never stops. Every muscle taut as a bowstring, shattered hands, mangled feet, a back shredded by whips into quivering red meat. More dead than alive before being nailed on to the wooden gibbet, and now one throbbing, excruciating, ceaseless torment.

“They call it crucifixion. The Assyrians invented it, but their method was too quick. They merely impaled you on a sharpened spike, through the body, and out through the mouth. You didn’t last long. So, the Romans perfected it, dragging it out longer, refined it in order to let you have a little time to meditate on your crimes. By the second or third day, four-fifths crazed as the crows peck your eyes out, maybe (or so the Romans calculated) you’ll act as an effective deterrent to other would-be opponents of the regime.”

How It Appeared

• Christ’s followers were scattered and demoralized
• His family was devastated
• He was deserted by all, including His best friends
• He was jeered and taunted by the crowds
• His “movement” was over
• He was going to rot in the ground like everyone else
• He was thought to be just another of the many failed messiah “wannabes”
• The Romans believed they had disposed of another troublemaker
• The religious leaders gloated over the death of another challenger to their authority
• The world quickly returned to “business as usual”
• This was just another crucifixion like all the rest
• Hell was jubilant at having thwarted God’s redemption plan

So, what could possibly be “good” about all THAT?

If the story stopped there, we’d be left with a seriously botched undertaking. Stay tuned.

What Wasn’t So Obvious

Throughout the Old Testament, God had been progressively revealing that He had a date with sin. He promised to confront mankind’s “sin monster” IN OUR PLACE.

As told in Matthew 27:45; 51-52, this would be a collision so fierce that, “… darkness fell upon all the land … the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised …”

But it was what we couldn’t see that really mattered. Something BIG was happening in an altogether different realm.

We learn later that it was the mission-critical stuff — unseen to the eye — that Christ was dealing with, involving existential threats to all mankind.

The following four perils hung over all of us like a spiritual “Sword of Damocles”:

Offended Character of God

According to Charles Henry Mackintosh and Wilbur M. Smith in their book, Genesis to Deuteronomy, “Now, the death of Christ has made provision for all this (Jehovah’s ‘lot’ fell upon the true victim). It has perfectly glorified God in the very place where all these things have been done; It has perfectly vindicated the majesty, the truth, the holiness, the character of God.

“It has divinely met all the claims of his throne; it has atoned for sin; It has furnished a divine remedy for all the mischief which sin introduced into the universe; It affords a ground on which the blessed God can act in grace, mercy and forbearance toward all; It furnishes a warrant for the eternal expulsion and perdition of the prince of this world; It forms the imperishable foundation of God’s moral government.”

Accumulated Debt of Sin

“When you were dead in your wrongdoings and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our wrongdoings, having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” — Colossians 2:13-14

Mankind’s Resultant Slavery to Sin

“For we, too, were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us …” — Titus 3:3-4

Spiritual Death

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned … For if by the offense of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many.” — Romans 5:12-16

Quite a weekend’s work wouldn’t you say?

Three men, three crosses, one hill.
One man cursed, one man prayed, One Man promised.
One died condemned, one died forgiven, One died innocent.
One died in sin, one died to sin, One died for sin.
One was held by death, one was released by death, One conquered death.
One lost life, one gained life, One was life.
Thank You, Jesus, for Your sacrifice and eternal life only through You!
— CarryTheLight.io

So, how do we know God accepted Christ’s work on the cross? For that, we wait until Sunday.

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Click here for a fascinating AI-generated video overview of this essay.