Hell on the Cross
The following was recently posted at the Blazing Center blog. Note the final application- how can we not praise Him? I would add- how can we not strive to tell the doomed world around us about this Savior?
“Look at the cross, therefore, and you see what form God’s judicial reaction to human sin will finally take. What form is that? In a word, withdrawal and deprivation of good. On the cross Jesus lost all the good that he had before: all sense of his Father’s presence and love, all sense of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, all enjoyment of God and of created things, all ease and solace of friendship, were taken from him, and in their place was nothing but loneliness, pain, a killing sense of human malice and callousness, and a horror of great spiritual darkness.” (from In My Place, Condemned He Stood by J.I. Packer and Mark Dever)
“Withdrawal and deprivation of all good.” We can’t imagine this, for we enjoy and take for granted thousands of blessings every day. Fresh water, fried chicken, eyesight, jazz, baseball, pileated woodpeckers, espresso, sleep, and green grass. Just take away electricity or coffee and we immediately begin to smart. Imagine every pleasure and good thing being removed.
But imagine being stripped of all “physical, mental and spiritual well-being.” When Jesus became a curse for us on the cross he experienced not even a shred of mercy. No relief, no comfort from God or friends. No encouragement, no hope, no light.
Our sufferings are clothed in mercies. God comforts us by his Spirit and gives us hope through his Word. He provides pain relievers and grants respite in sleep. He gives us family and friends to pray for and encourage us. Jesus had none of this on the cross. He enjoyed no relief from the racking pain of crucifixion and suffered in his soul immeasurable agony, despair, loneliness, and horror.
What is hell like? Jesus experienced hell on the cross - so that we who have in trusted him never will. How can we not praise him?