Paid In Full: An In-depth Look at the Defining Moments of Christ's Passion (37 page)

So make it your earnest goal to apply to your own life the principles of Jesus’ life —especially the truths and principles revealed in what He experienced in His final days on earth. Strive to pen the strokes of your moments on this earth to reflect each stroke of the Master.

If you will let the Holy Spirit help you, it is possible for you to successfully walk through life as Jesus did. What a blessing that you don’t have to figure it all out by yourself! Just study the strokes of the Master’s pen, and press forward by faith to copy those strokes in the face of every challenge that arises.

By yourself, you cannot do it. But Jesus didn’t leave you to face the challenges of life alone and without help. After purchasing the full price of your redemption, He ascended on High, where He now intercedes continually before the Father on your behalf (Hebrews 7:25). And just as He promised, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell within you as your Teacher and Guide and to fill and empower you so you can walk as Jesus walked through every situation you could ever face.

Jesus did the hard part. All that He suffered, He suffered for you, leaving behind a perfect example for you to follow. As you respond with His wisdom and love in the face of every challenge, light
will
overcome darkness and God’s purposes
will
be fulfilled. Victory will always be the outcome when, by God’s grace and the help of His Spirit, you learn to copy the strokes of the Master.

Isn’t It Time To Make
a Change in Your Life?

From Gethsemane’s garden to Golgotha’s hill, Jesus Christ experienced the full spectrum of emotional and physical anguish — more than any other human would ever endure. Such suffering was the penalty of sin, or of the willful disconnection from God, and Jesus accepted it by choice. Decreed by God before Adam chose treason, death was the ultimate payment for sin. The holiness and justice of God required sin’s penalty to be paid. But God’s love and devotion for man prompted Him to mercifully provide a substitute.

Initially, God allowed the blood of animals to provide a covering for sin. But only a Man with sinless blood could provide cleansing for sin, paying the ultimate price by offering His life as payment in full for the judgment against mankind. Thus, Jesus Christ — God in the form of a perfect Man — came to take away the sins of the world. Jesus died to pay the ultimate price once and for all and to break the power of sin. Then He rose triumphant over death, hell, and the grave to provide enduring freedom from sin and its destructive consequences.

What does this mean for you today, 2,000 years after Christ’s death and resurrection? It means that Jesus gained total victory over sin and wickedness so you can walk in that same victory too.

So how does that victory look on a daily basis?

Consider what you’ve just learned about Jesus — not merely what He went through, but the way He responded as He went through it. Nothing about His attitude or actions reflected weakness or fear. Even when enduring excruciating pain and humiliation, even when facing the most horrendous form of death, Jesus was at all times in complete control of His emotions and His words as He drew His strength from His Heavenly Father.

When Jesus was surrounded by liars who unjustly accused Him and called for His death, He didn’t wither and collapse emotionally, nor did He try to beg or negotiate His way out of the situation. He knew who He was and what He had come to do, and He held fast to His trust in His Father. Jesus knew that His life was in God’s hands, not man’s.

So it is with you. Remember that when you feel overwhelmed and surrounded by adversity or opposition. Remember the strength Jesus walked in, and choose to draw upon that strength every day of your life. If you are a child of God, the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
you
. The Holy Spirit will not only raise you to a newness of life, but He will also raise up God’s purposes for your life that may seem dead to you now. Because your debt is paid in full, you can tap into resurrection life and move forward in the face of blistering betrayal or opposition on any level.

If sickness or disease attempts to latch onto you, remember the stripes Jesus bore to obtain healing and wholeness for you. If pain grips your body or if a report of disease threatens to rob your peace of mind, crowd you with fear, and shorten your life, remember Jesus. Remember how the cruel Roman lash lacerated His holy body, ripping into His flesh, gouging Him repeatedly until the blood flowed unrestrained. Remember that He was wounded for
your
transgressions and bruised for
your
iniquities. The chastisement that was needed to obtain
your
peace of mind was laid on Him. And by the stripes that wounded Jesus,
you
were healed.

From this moment forward, your life can be different than it’s ever been before because your debt of sin has been
paid in full
by Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Salvation

When Jesus Christ comes into your life, you are immediately emancipated — totally set free from the bondage of sin!

If you have never received Jesus as your personal Savior, it is time to experience this new life for yourself! The first step to freedom is simple. Just pray this prayer from your heart:

Lord, I can never adequately thank You for all You did for me on the Cross. I am so undeserving, Jesus, but You came and gave Your life for me anyway. I repent and turn from my sins right now, Jesus. I receive You as my Savior, and I ask You to wash away my sin by Your precious blood. I thank You from the depths of my heart for doing what no one else could do for me. Had it not been for Your willingness to lay down Your life for me, I would be eternally lost.

Thank You, Jesus, that I am now redeemed by Your blood. You bore my sin, my sickness, my pain, my lack of peace, and my suffering on the Cross. Your blood has cleansed me from my sin and washed me whiter than snow, giving me rightstanding with the Father. I have no need to be ashamed of my past sins, because I am now a new creature in You. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new because I am in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:17).

Because of You, Jesus, today I am forgiven; I am filled with peace; and I am a joint heir with You! Satan no longer has a right to lay any claim on me. From a grateful heart, I will faithfully serve You the rest of my days!

If you prayed this prayer from your heart, something amazing has happened to you. No longer a servant to sin, you are now a servant of Almighty God. The evil spirits that once exacted every ounce of your being and required your all-inclusive servitude no longer possess the authorization to control you or to dictate your destiny.

As a result of your decision to turn your life over to Jesus Christ, your eternal home has been decided forever. HEAVEN is now your permanent address.

God’s Spirit has moved into your own human spirit, and you have become the “temple of God” (1 Corinthians 6:19). What a miracle! To think that God, by His Spirit, now lives inside of you! I have never ceased to be amazed at this incredible miracle of God in my own life. He gave me (and you!) a new heart and then made us His home!

Now you have a new Lord and Master, and His name is Jesus. From this moment on, the Spirit of God will work in you and supernaturally energize you to fulfill God’s will for your life. Everything will change for you now — and it’s all going to change for the best!

Prayer of Forgiveness

No one is spared opportunities for offense in this life. Not one person escapes times of dealing with disappointment and hurt as the result of other people’s words or actions. But how one
responds
to hurt, betrayal, or offense makes all the difference in the outcome — in the lives of both the offender and the one offended.

In this matter of forgiveness, you are called to follow the example of Jesus, for the Bible declares that “…as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Jesus walked the path of forgiveness in the face of unspeakable horrors committed against Him during His final hours on this earth. In light of His example, can you do any less than release in forgiveness those who have hurt or offended you?

Take the time to pray this prayer from your heart:

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank You for the great love You expressed when You sent Jesus to be my Savior, my Substitute, and my Example. As I look at Jesus’ life and His responses to all that He experienced, I see Your heart and mind revealed. Thank You, Father, for loving me so completely and for forgiving me so fully.

Right now, Father, I come before You as humbly and as sincerely as I know how to honor You for the great sacrifice of Your Son. I honor You by acknowledging and receiving the power of the blood that Jesus so willingly shed for the forgiveness and removal of my sins. And just as I require and receive the power of that precious blood in my life, I release its cleansing power in forgiveness toward those who have hurt or wronged me in the past.

Father, as an act of my will, I choose to believe and act upon Your Word that tells me to forgive. I know You said that great peace belongs to those who love Your law and that nothing shall offend them (Psalm 119:165). I feel the sting of betrayal, but I’m not ignorant of the enemy’s devices. The purpose of betrayal is to produce a root of bitterness in me, and I refuse to yield to that sin. Father, I forgive — and I ask You to forgive those who have hurt me, too, for they don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t realize that what has been said and done against me has been said and done against You. Forgive them, Father.

Holy Spirit, I ask You to help me yield to the love of God that has already been shed abroad in my heart by Your presence within me. As You strengthened Jesus, please strengthen me. Help me walk in the love, the Word, and the will of God toward those who have wronged me. Help me respond just as Jesus responded when He was spitefully treated and wrongfully accused. I take comfort and find strength in Jesus’ example before me and in Your mighty presence within me, Holy Spirit. Help me lean upon You without reservation and to respond to You without hesitation. And help those I have forgiven to turn their hearts toward You. May we both embrace Your wisdom and Your ways so that Your purpose may be fulfilled in each of our lives.

Thank You, Father, for the blood that has the power to cleanse sin and to remove barriers. I ask that You intervene in our hearts and in this situation to turn all that the enemy meant for evil toward our good and Your glory. I receive this as done in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Prayer for Healing

Jesus purchased complete redemption for you. Through the sacrifice of His life and the spilling of His blood, He paid the full price for your freedom from sin
and
sickness.

With every stroke of the vicious Roman whip He suffered, Jesus bore the penalty of your physical pains, sicknesses, and diseases. Today Heaven declares that “…by whose [Jesus’] stripes, you
were
healed” (1 Peter 2:24). The price has been paid in full for you to receive the gift of divine health though Jesus Christ. Receive by faith complete healing for your body as you pray this prayer.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Jesus endured the horrors of the Roman scourge to pay the penalty for my sin. Before Jesus ever stood in that place, You declared through Isaiah that His suffering secured my deliverance and by the stripes that wounded Him, I was healed (Isaiah 53:5).

Jesus, the Lamb of God, justified many — and through the sacrifice of Himself, my debt was paid in full. Therefore, I come boldly before Your throne of grace to receive the help and healing I need.

I thank You, Father, that it pleased You to lay my sickness, infirmity, and disease upon Jesus so that I might receive health and healing in exchange. Right now I behold the Lamb, who was slain to set me free. And I receive freedom — the freedom He died and rose again to purchase for me — from sin, sickness, and disease. With every torturous lash of the whip and every mutilating gash it produced, Jesus purchased my healing with His own blood.

Today, Father, I come before You to receive the healing Jesus purchased for me. Just as my salvation is based on Jesus and His completed work, so is my healing. I don’t have to beg You for it. I simply receive. And as I receive Your great gift of healing, I honor Your Son’s great sacrifice that opened the door for me to receive Your life-giving power to meet my every need. For this and for all You’ve done for me, I thank You, Father, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Endnotes

¹
For a detailed account of the Tower of Antonia,
see:
Antiquities
Flavius Josephus
Book XV, Chapter 11, Paragraph 4

²
Antiquities
Flavius Josephus
Book XVIII, Chapter 2, Paragraph 2

³
War of the Jews
Flavius Josephus
Book II, Chapter 8, Paragraph 14

⁴
Antiquities
Flavius Josephus
Book XVIII, Chapter 4, Paragraph 2

⁵
See
Josephus for an in-depth examination of all the members of the Herodian family.

⁶
Edwards, Gobles, and Hosmer, 1986.
“On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ”
JAMA 255:1455-1463

⁷
Church History
Eusebius
Book IV, Chapter 11