Calvary's Love Story

Calvary's Love Story Luke 23:46 "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice He said, 'Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit: asnd having said thus, He gave up his Spirit" KJV. It has been rightly said, "that Calvary represents God's greatest answer to God's greatest problem". The problem is found between God's holiness and his love. Being a holy God, He despises and hates sin. Holiness and sin cannot mix, but a division is most noticable. So, to counteract this problem, the greatest answer to this division was sent in Jesus Christ.

In this 7th Saying of Jesus spoken from the Cross we reflect and become revived to live. This 'Result of His Agony' becomes the evidence of what happened at Calvary ~  Calvary-Where the savior died and salvation was born  Calvary-Where God prayed and a mob cursed  Calvary-Where deep darkness enveloped the earth that this divine light might fill the earth  Calvary-Where God's Son was forsaken that we might never be forsaken  Calvary-Where by faith we received our sight and the burden of our heart was rolled away  Calvary-Your hope and mine for time and eternity  Calvary- The place of true everlasting Love Christ is hanging on the Cross. He has Prayed for His Persecutors. He has Promised Everlasting Life to a thief. He has made Provision for His Mother.

Absence of the Necessary Presence of His Father is too much for Him to bear.

His entire body has become Parched with the thirst for Man's Redemption. His quest is before Him as He Pursues the Goal of every slain Lamb, The forgiveness of sin. And now in this 7th saying, He submits the Proclamation of Salvation to Father God and the Cry of Man. In Christ, love represents the mitigating force for sin and shows favor for the sinner. Though he hates sin, God loves the sinner. Thus a provision had to be made to secure mankind for eternity, this eternal security is found in the love expressed on Calvary. Sin had to be starved and the sinner fed. Sin had to 1

be dispelled and the sinner emancipated. For the purposes mentioned, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself ‌"(2 Cor.5:19). His holiness said-"they must die!" but his love said-"they are my children, they must live".

Calvary expresses this whole story of the tension between holiness and love.

To get holiness and love as one in mankind, a possible romance had to be imposed. God imposed this romance at Calvary. He had anticipated mankind being holy and loving, but seemingly,man had fallen short. So to get these characteristics prevailing in man-Jesus was sent to show mankind how to live.

His life would become the example.

At the age of 33 our example for life is hanging on a cross, suffering and dying. Some shallow minds may say, "Oh how in the world can I pattern my life after a man that is dying?" But the answer comes, that pattern is not in the thought of death, but in the man's cause for which he is dying. The cause behind this man's death will bring about the marriage out of the romance between holiness and love.

The man Jesus knew his destiny from the inception of his ministry. The end of his earthly ministry meant the way of death. He often foretold this endwhen in the presence of his followers, and never before would a man die as he died, for the way he died is a reverse of the way we shall die. The Hebrew writer says-"‌ It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb.9:27). With the sinner it is death first and then judgment; with the savior the order was reversed. He endured the judgment of God against our sins and then died. He here establishes the righteous rapport between holiness and love.

He takes on our sins and applied love to it, thus making sin behave itself. He often time spoke of this when he said-"The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men; and they shall kill him" (Matt. 17:22,23).

While in the hands of men he was taking on their sinfulness, and how they treated him is well known. They took advantage of him, their hatred, pride, cowardice, betrayal, denial, neglect, fears, all of the sins of the flesh were placed on him. From his first Word spoken from the cross to this last, this romance grew and blossomed-"Father forgive them for they know not what they do". He

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Prayed for His Persecutors. These were words of forgiveness for those who had released such sins that now cling to him.

Sin hung on both sides of him, but when one of the malefactors asked "Lord, remember me when you come into his kingdom, Jesus said to him, Verily I say unto you, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise". He Promised Everlasting Life to a thief.

This was a word of salvation.

How trying it must have been for his mother to stand at the foot of that cross and watch her son die. The son she had born, now she watches die. But with a word of affection, he made Provision for His Mother as He resound in open commitment to his mission, "Woman, behold they son, and looking at John, the beloved disciple standing with her, he said Behold thy mother!"

The romance continues, the fourth cry is a staggering one. It is the cry of wondering, it is the cry of anguish-it is the cry of loneliness, it is the cry of pain and the crux of the crucifixion- The Silent and Vocal story is told in the Presence of The King and His Father, absence of this necessary Presence of His Father is too much for Him to bear as he says, "Eli, Eli, lama sa-bach-tha-ni", that is to say-"My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Forsakeness is always the absence of presence but not the absence of his mercy, so here God turns his back on himself to put away the terrible stain of sin. For about a brief period of thirty minutes Jesus was without the presence of God. His judgment was upon the sin Jesus bore. And now we see more readily the agony of Gethsemane-the cup entailed even God turning his back on the sin he carried. God's holiness and his love bonded together to pay off the wages of sin. God's holiness was at work while love was overseeing the job. Holiness made him feel forsakened but love made him stay on the tree. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man would lie down his life for his friends" John 15:13.

His entire body has become Parched with the thirst for Man's Redemption as He says, "I Thirst". This utterance is the cry of unfulfilled longing, but on the outskirts of the unresolved state-there waiting at the altar were the vows. The wedding march started, holiness and love marched down the aisle together and stood at the altar together when the "Thirst" of the Lamb was attempted to be quenched with Vinegar. The "Thirst was from heaven, the quenching attempt

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was from an earthly source and for an earthly need. His quest is before Him as He Pursues the Goal of every slain Lamb, The forgiveness of sin. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost" John 19:30. Here, Jesus makes Heaven contingency plan of everlasting life, this declaration has been authenticated and denote His finished work in providing everlasting life to all who would accept him. "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour" John 12:27 KJV. And now the final act of this Calvary's Love Story, it is punctuated with a cry of completion, He submits the Proclamation of Salvation to Father God and the Cry of Man~ "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost". They may place my body in a tomb, but I place my spirit into the hands of my Father.

Never again would I be at the mercy of wicked hands, never again will I suffer shame, I'm placing myself in my Father's hands. I will release, I left my holiness and my love to reside in the world that I left, but now I sit down on my father's right side. On the mercy side do I sit, in the place of intercession do I sit. I sit beside the one who sent me, I sit right next to my Father - everything is alright in my father's house, it’s the completed bliss of salvation, the honeymoon spot of heaven, it's the culminating goal for every believer.

The battle is fought, the victory is won. The mighty warrior untenses his muscles, unbuckles his sword and settles into the Father's care. He gives His angels a tremendous directive, get my mansion ready, Father, I'm coming home". Hell has lost, heaven has won, the price is paid, the victory is secured, the transaction is completed, the journey is over, the task is finished the union is made, holiness and love are together-Father I'm coming home, coming by way of the grave to take its victory, coming by way of death to take its sting, coming and leaving my pathway as the example for all to follow.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" Romans 8:1 kjv. "

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13 kjv.

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Is there anyone in this world who would willingly drink a cup of poison to save you?, Jesus Did! Is there anyone in this world who would take a rattlesnake into their bosom to save you?, Jesus Did! Is there anyone in this world, in the prime of their life who would turn their back upon everything and die to save you?, Jesus Did! Someday we will see Him in glory. We will see the stripes on His back. Someday We will see the thorn prints around His head.

Someday we will see the nail prints in His right hand and in His left hand.

Someday we will see how they crossed His right foot over His left foot and drove a 9 inch stake through both feet~We will hear. From His own mouth the old true story of what He did to set us free at Calvary~~~  Yes, Calvary - Where we come with our sin and receive The Saviour's Righteousness  Calvary - Where we come with our ruin and receive His Perfection  Calvary - Where we come with our bitterness and receive His Sweetness  Calvary - Where we come with our despair and receive His Assurance  Calvary - Where we come with our darkness and receive His Light  Calvary - Where we come with our sorrow and receive His Joy  Calvary - Where we come without hell and receive His Heaven William R. Newell, Got it right in 1895 when he wrote the words ~ "Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.

Mercy there was great, and grace was free; Pardon there was multiplied to me; There my burdened soul found liberty At Calvary.

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