Alexander the Great once found his philosopher friend
Diogenes standing in a field, looking intently
at a large pile of bones. Asked what he was
doing, the old man turned to Alexander and replied, "I am
searching for the bones of your father Philip,
but I cannot seem to distinguish them from
the bones of the slaves." Alexander got the point: everyone
is equal in death. From the greatest to the least,
from the most beautiful to the most ordinary,
death is the universal equaliser.

Most of us know the shock and grief that comes with
the death of a loved one or colleague: the
sense of loss, perhaps numbness or anger, perhaps the
realisation of our own mortality. Jesus – the King of the Jews,
the Messiah, the Son of God – shared the human
experience of death. His heart stopped beating,
his lungs ceased their constant inhaling and exhaling,
and the electrical impulses within his brain slowed and
subsided into nothingness.

Each of the Gospel writers describes the event of
Jesus’ death: "When Jesus had cried out
again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit"; "With
a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last"; "When
he had said this, he breathed his last";
"He bowed his head and gave up his spirit" (Matthew
27:50; Mark 15:37; Luke 23:46; John 19:30). But none
of the Gospel writers focuses on the physical
sufferings of Jesus. Each tells part of the
whole horrific story, with his own emphasis and understanding
of its significance. The death of Jesus was
not only unusual – it was unique.

Jesus shared the common experience of death that
we all must encounter. Some die accidentally,
others by their own hand; some die deserving death;
others unjustly or prematurely – but all die. Yet Jesus’ death
was unique because it was perfectly timed.

People die in different ways. Sometimes the spirit
leaves peacefully while the person is asleep.
Sometimes it is violently removed, and there’s
an agonising battle as the sufferer struggles frantically to
hold onto life. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died
in 1953, and his daughter Svetlana penned
this graphic description of his last moments:

"The death agony was horrible . . . At what
seemed like the very last moment he suddenly
opened his eyes and cast a glance over everyone in the
room . . . He suddenly lifted his left hand as though bringing
down a curse on us all. The gesture was incomprehensible
and full of menace . . . The next moment,
after a final effort, the spirit wrenched itself free
of the flesh" (Svetlana Alliluyeva, Twenty Letters to a Friend).

Not so with Jesus: "After he took the wine,
Jesus said, ‘It’s done . . . complete.’ Bowing
his head, he offered up his spirit" (John 19:30, The
Message). Even as he hung suspended by Roman nails
between earth and heaven, he was in control,
bringing his life mission to its ultimate climax.
Augustine reminds us that "Jesus gave up his life because
he willed it, when he willed it, and as he
willed it."

Until Sir William Deane signs the Andrews Bill nullifying
the Northern Territory’s euthanasia legislation,
you and I can choose to die in the Northern
Territory by computer-administered lethal injection. We can
choose the mode and time of our death, but we’re
not masters of our spirits, able to dismiss
them and expire. Jesus had that power, and he dismissed
his own spirit; in this respect his death was unique.

His death was also an act of worship. Throughout
his life Jesus pleased his Father. At his
baptism heaven opened and God declared, "This is my
Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased"
(Matthew 3:17). To the Jews who persecuted
him Jesus said, "I seek not to please myself but him
who sent me" (John 5:30). And Hebrews 9:14 reveals
that on the cross Jesus "offered himself
unblemished to God."

With the Old Testament sacrificial system in mind,
the writer reminds us that Jesus Christ offered
not a lamb or a bull but himself in sacrifice to
God. Jesus was both the person offering the sacrifice for sin,
and the sacrifice! Nothing less would take
away the sin of the world, and nothing more
valuable could take his place.

Unlike the temple priests who first sacrificed an
animal to remove their own sins before sacrificing
on behalf of the people, Jesus offered to God
his own body – his own life – for our sins. In doing so, he
demonstrated his complete obedience to God as his
holy Father, and the complete worthiness of
God as the object of his worship. In this respect
also his death was unique.

When Jesus dismissed his spirit and died, the soldiers
stationed nearby were surprised he had died
so quickly; some victims remained alive for up
to two days before dying. But they were not the only ones
surprised. Across the valley, in the city centre,
at the precise moment of Jesus’ death, Matthew
records that "the curtain of the temple was torn
in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
The tombs broke open and the bodies of many
holy people who had died were raised to life"
(Matthew 27:51-52). The death of Jesus had supernatural
consequences.

The enormous, thickly lined curtain separating the
holy of holies from the holy place was torn
in two, symbolising that through the death of Jesus
the way into God’s immediate presence was open to all, regardless
of the distinctions often made between clergy and
laity, Jew and Gentile, master and servant,
man and woman. All people now had equal access
to God and to his salvation, and equal opportunity for worship
and service.

And then the earth shook and rocks were split in
pieces! The event was, quite literally, earth-shaking,
as the natural environment responded to the
death of its creator. Burial chambers broke open, probably through
the force of the earthquake. Then something occurred
that no earthquake could achieve: the bodies
of many dead people returned to life (verse 52)!
The death of Jesus Christ triggered the resurrection of God’s
people, and his resurrection guarantees our future
resurrection when he returns to earth. There
was no other death like it, before or since; in this
regard also the death of Jesus was unique.

But his death also had eternal consequences. Immediately
before he died, Jesus said, "It is finished"
(John 19:30). What was finished? The work
he came to earth to accomplish. Michaelangelo, the Renaissance
artist of Sistine Chapel fame, was a genius. He excelled
as a sculptor, designer, painter and architect.
His statues of Moses and David are widely
recognised and appreciated. What many people don’t know is that
in Florence, there’s an entire hall filled with his
‘unfinished’ sculptural works. As great an
artist as he was, he left much unfinished.

Jesus left no unfinished work – he accomplished everything
he came to do. He completed his monumental
mission. Hebrews 2:9 says with majestic simplicity,
"In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced
death in every person’s place" (The Message). Jesus not
only died – he died in your place. He died so you
could have life. He suffered so you could
find peace. He endured the darkness of Calvary so you
could experience the light of the Good News. He endured the curse
so you could enjoy the blessing. He was alienated
from God so you could be reconciled to God.

He who never did wrong suffered under the agonising
weight of your wrongs, so you could be put
right with God. "He personally carried the load
of our sins in his own body when he died on the cross, so that
we can be finished with sin and live a good
life from now on" (1 Peter 2:24, LB).

In his death Jesus demonstrated God’s love for us
in the fullest possible way, achieved total
victory over evil, and made our salvation possible.
He was not merely a good man who died as an example of virtue
or meekness; he was the perfect God who took our
burdens of sin and guilt and made them his
burden. His death was not an example to inspire us
but a sacrifice to save us!

As John Stott says, "A pattern cannot secure
our pardon . . . an example can stir our imagination,
kindle our idealism and strengthen our resolve,
but it cannot cleanse the defilement of our past sins, bring
peace to our troubled conscience or reconcile us
to God" (Basic Christianity 1971:89).
Only the death of the holy Son of God could achieve
those purposes.

His death was an example, but it was much more than
that. It was the only way God could bring
you into relationship with himself, into his glorious
kingdom, his new community. Jesus’ death was unique because it
was perfectly timed, it was a priceless act of worship,
and it had supernatural consequences; but
above all his death had eternal consequences.

"There is one God and one mediator between God
and men," says Paul to Timothy, "the
man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus did not step out
of his human body when he rose from the grave, nor
when he sat down at the right hand of the
throne of God. And heaven will be filled with people
from every nation, tribe, people and language because Jesus came,
and lived among us, and died in our place. Will you
be there? Thank God for Jesus, and his great
love for us!

That’s the good news of Easter! It’s the kind of
news that both sobers me and fills me with
joy and a desire to know my Lord better. But you may
not yet have surrendered your life to Jesus Christ and experienced
his forgiveness and joy. Don’t let the opportunity
pass by! I invite you, right now, to thank
Jesus for dying for your sins, in your place, and
ask him to enter your life, to cleanse you and take control of
your life. Pray this prayer with me:

"Lord Jesus Christ, I acknowledge that I have
gone my own way. I have sinned in thought,
word and deed against you. I’m sorry for my sins. I turn
from them now in repentance. I believe that you died for me,
bearing my sins in your own body. I thank you for
your great love for me.

"I invite you to enter my life. Come in, Lord
Jesus, as my Saviour, and cleanse me. Come
in as my director, my Lord, and take control of me. Fill
me with your Holy Spirit, and with your joy. And I will serve
you as you give me strength, all my life.
Amen."

[Message no. 109 preached by Rod Benson Senior
Pastor at FlindersBaptist Community Church, Ipswich, Australia,
on Friday 28 March 1997.

To respond, please email Pastor Rod. http://www.powerup.com.au/~flinders


Unless otherwise noted, scripturequotations are from The Holy
Bible, New International Version

(London:Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).]