July 19 2025

Saturday July 19

The Other Side of the Cross

Luke 23:44-46

44 Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.' " Having said this, He breathed His last.

Welcome to Pastor's Chat. Today we continue to look at Luke 23. In the passage we're examining, Jesus has been on the cross for three hours. In verses 44 through 46, we read about the last three hours of the cross: "Now it was about the sixth hour," (which would have been 12 noon), "and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour," (which would be 3:00 in the afternoon). "Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.' Having said this, He breathed His last."

As we look at this passage, Jesus had just spoken to the thief on the cross, telling him, "Today, you will be with Me in paradise." Even as Jesus is dying on the cross, paying the price for our sins, He is thinking of others and has compassion on the sinners all around Him. Going back to verse 27, we need to remember that as Christ was being led to His crucifixion, "a great multitude of the people followed Him as He was carrying His cross to Calvary." Many of us believe, as I do, having been to Israel and Jerusalem over 30 times over the years, that Jesus was crucified somewhere right outside the Damascus Gate, across the road, next to a hill with the underlying rocks that seem to form the face of a skull.

Just outside the Damascus Gate in ancient Jerusalem, there were three roads that come together: one that comes from Damascus, one from Jericho, and the other from Joppa. This was one of the busiest places in the city, a great marketplace where people came together, a place of transportation. Even today, it remains a major transportation hub for different parts of Israel and still one of the busiest places next to Old City Jerusalem. It makes sense that the Roman soldiers would execute criminals where the biggest multitude of people would gather and pass by, to put fear into those who committed crimes.

We must also keep in mind that what our Lord accomplished on the cross was an eternal transaction between Him and the Father. We could call this chat, "The Other Side of the Cross" because the cross was as much for God as it was for us. We see it from the street level, from our need and perspective, as He died for us. But God sees it from the other side as Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God for sin. We need to remember that God is holy, righteous, and just and He cannot forgive us just because He loves us.

God is a God of love, but the only answer for Him to grant us forgiveness for our sins was that a payment had to be made for our sin. You will see this clearly in the prophecy of Isaiah 53, which I encourage you to read in its entirety. Notice particularly these verses: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:4-5). It says, the Jesus was “smitten by God…”. 

The last verses of the Isaiah 53 are very clear that God was involved in the death of His Son: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:10-12).

As you read these verses and you realize that God was looking down upon the cross that day two-thousand years ago. The only place our sins and the sins of humanity could be paid for was right there, as Jesus, the perfect, sinless, stainless Lamb of God, died and bore the bruising of God upon Him. This is what the Apostle John was writing about in 1 John 2:2: “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” This means God’s just wrath was satisfied with Christ sacrifice! Praise the LORD!

Have you thanked the Lord for your great salvation today? Have you shared this great message of salvation with anyone else recently?

God bless!