As I sat in service on Good Friday, the Holy Spirit started revealing more depth into Jesus last days and what it all meant. I hope to share to the best of my ability what H.S. showed me.

1. The Rejection

What was it about Jesus that had people crying out, “Crucify him!”? I believe it was unbelief, not just in Jesus the man, or Jesus as God, but God as God. God’s power to do something never seen before. They knew the Messiah, the Christ, would come, expecting to see a deliverer like Moses or one of the judges. A man directed by God, not someone claiming to be God. They rejected that God could put himself into a frail human package. They rejected the basic belief that God is all-powerful.

Consider these scriptures as the apostles dealt with the unbelief that was prevalent after Jesus crucifixion.

While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God’s ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so cheap, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness.”‬‬

1 Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭22‬-‭25‬ ‭MSG

who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man].‬‬

Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭AMP

2. The Judgement

It’s interesting to note the response of the religious leaders compared to the response of the pagan authority. Those who should have been the first to recognize the Messiah, were so entrenched in their pride and arrogance, they missed piecing together the very scriptures that authenticated Jesus as God’s chosen.

Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”‬‬

John‬ ‭19‬:‭4‬ ‭ESV

Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” They cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.‬‬

John‬ ‭19‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭ESV

3. The Penalty

What blessing would come from Jesus crucifixion wasn’t even a thought in the minds of those who witnessed it, but God knew all along.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.‬‬

Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭NIV

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of deep sorrows who was no stranger to suffering and grief. We hid our faces from him in disgust and considered him a nobody, not worthy of respect. Yet he was the one who carried our sicknesses and endured the torment of our sufferings. We viewed him as one who was being punished for something he himself had done, as one who was struck down by God and brought low. But it was because of our rebellious deeds that he was pierced and because of our sins that he was crushed. He endured the punishment that made us completely whole, and in his wounding we found our healing.‬‬

Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭3‬-‭5‬ ‭TPT

4. The Payment

The penalty for our sin is death. Genesis tells us we would return to the dust from which we were formed. But that was never God’s desire for us, ultimately he had a plan.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬, ‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.‬‬

2 Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬ ‭NLT

5. The Victory

He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.‬‬

Colossians‬ ‭2‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT

What was Jesus doing while in the tomb? He was making his victory over death retroactive.

For the Messiah himself died for sins, once and for all, a righteous person on behalf of unrighteous people, so that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but brought to life by the Spirit; and in this form he went and made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits,

1 Kefa (1 Pe)‬ ‭3‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭CJB

6. The Power

Then still behind the stone, resurrection power manifested.

“The Father has an intense love for me because I freely give my own life—to raise it up again. I surrender my own life, and no one has the power to take my life from me. I have the authority to lay it down and the power to take it back again. This is the destiny my Father has set before me.”‬‬

John‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭TPT

After the sufferings of his cross, Jesus appeared alive many times to these same apostles over a forty-day period, proving to them with many convincing signs that he had been resurrected. During these encounters, he taught them the truths of God’s kingdom.‬‬

Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ ‭TPT

7. The Possibility

Jesus knew who he was and what his mission was during his time in human form. He endured the cross willingly to make a way for something amazing, something beyond our comprehension.

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

John‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”‬‬

John‬ ‭14‬:‭15‬-‭20‬ ‭ESV

I can only scratch the surface of unpacking this great gift. We call the days before Jesus resurrection, the Passion of Christ. God reveals his love for us, but it is Jesus resurrection that enables the fullness of God to dwell in us by the presence of his spirit we call the Holy Spirit.

Look at the words Jesus uses: “You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” And here: “Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” John confirmed this, saying, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God.”

There are so many scriptures I haven’t listed here, there is no substitute for delving into the scriptures more thoroughly, but the main takeaway for me from this vision, is that the power of the resurrection of Christ, the power of adoption as sons and daughters of the Father, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, are intricately entwined. That when Jesus passion led him to the cross, his heart was that we would grasp the victory of his power over death, and live the life he purchased for us. A life filled with his Spirit connecting us together as a family.

This next point is just one of my aha moments when thinking about the tomb and Jesus physical form. God’s not dead, he never was and never will be. His physical body was killed on the cross, but he escaped the tomb and appeared in physical form to the disciples just as powerfully as being born of a virgin. Creating a physical form is in his wheelhouse, as you might say.

Just as powerful as adopting us into the family. Are you ready to be part of God’s family? It’s as simple as believing Father God sent Jesus for you.

Grace & Peace,

Sandy

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