by Tad Lindley
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is the center point of human history. Somewhere between 4 and 2 BC, a virgin was found with child (Isaiah 7:14). Galatians says, when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman… (4:4) We know that this child was Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
More than just a man
As a man, he was fully human, but he was no ordinary man. You see, this man was God manifest in the flesh (I Timothy 3:16). All of God dwelt in this man (Colossians 2:9). The reason that God took on this body of flesh was to make peace with humanity (II Corinthians 5:19). For there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. (II Timothy 2:5)
This is why Jesus told the Jews, Before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58) When he said that he was telling them that he was the one who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush (Exodus 3:14). In fact, John describes Jesus like this: he was in the world and the world was made by him (John 1:10). Jesus was both fully man, and fully God.
What the devil knew
The devil apparently understood that this child Jesus Christ was more than an ordinary man. For did he not enter into Judas and actually possess Judas on the night that Jesus was arrested? (Luke 22:3) Ever since Adam and the woman were in the Garden of Eden, the devil had sought victory both over the souls of men (see Genesis 3) and to exalt himself over God (see Isaiah 14:9-19). By destroying the ministry of Jesus Christ, the devil would remove hope of salvation for the Gentiles, and effectively be destroying God himself.
Human point of view: the death of God
When we read the account of the days that lead up to the cross, we see what must have appeared to be from the perspective of almost everyone involved, that things were spinning wildly out of control. Many of the Jews were expecting Jesus to rise up and become a king, kicking the Roman rulers out of Israel. The disciples envisioned themselves being his advisors in the new kingdom. Instead, at a late night prayer meeting a posse showed up, Judas identified Jesus with a kiss on the cheek, and he was arrested. Within the next 15 hours, he was beaten, spit upon, had his whiskers pulled out, saw one of his best friends deny him, stood trial under false accusations, was nailed to timbers, and hung up naked for humanity to mock.
It is bad enough for a human to be betrayed by other men, but understand that this was God himself, manifest in the flesh experiencing humiliation and degradation by his own creation (remember, all things were made by him [John 1:3], including the men that murdered him). And while the people of Jerusalem were rallying around the chief priests, the Bible seems to indicate that there must have been a great assault of hell against Jesus as well. The spirit behind the cross was driven not merely by men, but by the very powers of hell.
God’s point of view: death is swallowed up in victory
What the enemies of God did not know is that as they beat the Lord of glory and spilled his blood, and as they mocked him on the cross, was that he was purchasing the salvation of souls with his very blood! (Matthew 26:28, Acts 20:28) That instead of a traumatic and complete failure of the power of God, Jesus was actually blotting out the handwriting of ordinances against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross (Colossians 2:14).
Not only that, within hours of his death, he was buried, and that shortly thereafter, he would arrive on the doorstep of hell where he would walk through the gates and begin to preach to the souls of the men and women who died in the flood of Noah (I Peter 3:18-20). This is the outcome that hell never foresaw. …had they known, they never would have crucified the Lord of glory (I Corinthians 2:8) And after he invaded hell and having spoiled the principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing in it (Colossians 2:15) when on the third day, he arose from the tomb having conquered death and the grave (I Corinthians 15:55).
The turning point of history
Because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we live in a world of hope. The turning point of history can become the turning point of our own lives when we are buried with him in baptism, and rise up to walk with him in newness of life (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12, Acts 2:38).
Reverend Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
