The and our VICTORY!

My dear friends:

For the longest time year in and year out; every Lenten week, we go through the rituals
starting from the blessing of the “palaspas” on Palm Sundays to the covering of the church relics
or images in violet cloths to Visita Iglesias, the Stations of the Cross, and even the floggings or
self-flagellations that leads to crucifixions of men in the name of “penetentias”. Oftentimes, after
3 o’clock on Good Fridays, we would hear “O patay na ang Dyos, wag na kayong lalabas…at
madidisgracia kayo! Or worst warnings as “patay ang Dyos, evil is at hand and the demon is at
its strongest!” I remember the days from my youth when my father would castigate us saying
“parang kayong Hudio at naglalaro pa kayo!” Black Saturdays was the “Salubong” culminating
on Easter Sundays, when we feast and celebrate by Easter Egg hunting and a festive lunch of
family gatherings. I never really understood what lent is except that we have a long vacation that
it is filled by rituals. And that probably goes the same for most of us!

But beyond the rituals, what is really the message of Lent? And, why did the son of God
die on the cross and on the third day rose again from the dead?

We know that we have sinned and the origin of our sin dates back from the Garden of
Eden when man violated the command of God not to eat the fruit from the tree that bears the
knowledge of good and evil. But man wanted to be like God and so man disobeyed God. From
that time on, Adam and Eve, were driven from the Garden and separated from God.

SIN is the nature of man and MAN have become tied to the bondage of sin. There was no
way, man can ever redeem himself in the eyes of God because we were DEAD in sin. There was
no way for us to reach God!

The Bible tells us… "The law requires that nearly everything to be cleansed with blood,
and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness" (Hebrews 9:22). Thus, animal blood
was shed when God slain an animal and use its skin to “cover” the nakedness of Adam and Eve.
Please see (Genesis 3:21) “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins
and clothed them.” This was an act of God's grace to cover the disobedience of God’s one
command.

Stories of sacrifices for sin by the shedding of animal blood abound in the Old Testament
even before the time of Moses in the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel.

The Book of Hebrews 9:22  (ESV) tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no
forgiveness of sins, “22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood,
and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

But because man is dead in sin, there was no one AND no one, who is worthy of sacrifice
for the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Man was therefore doomed for
destruction because the Bible tells us “For the wages of sin is DEATH” ( Romans 6:23) SIN
bears the corresponding penalty of death! We deserve to die for our sins, for iniquities, for our
guilt and shame, for our transgressions. But God, despite all that we have done, love us and by
grace provided a way to save us from death to bring us to the fullness of light and life, by
sending his OWN son to die in our place! And God loves us even before the foundation of time?
When He created us, he knew that Adam and Eve will sin against Him. Thus, even before the
creation of the world, He already provided a plan for our Salvation?

In the meantime, as I said despite our failings, God loves us immeasurably and without
leaps and bounds. God loves us so much that He was the one who provided a way to redeem us
by letting his only son to die in our place for the forgiveness of our sins! Meditating on the scope
and breath and the magnitude of God’s love, human as I am, I cannot grasp the intensity of that
love. For how can a father allow and sacrifice his only son to die an ignominious death, to save
the loss? What kind of a love is that from one who is willing to have his own child die for
another?

Can you take a moment to meditate on that love? Can you take a moment to feel the
recipient of that love? I am at a loss for words comprehending on the magnitude of that love!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV

The apostle John explained “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his
only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God
but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-
10, NRSV).

Paul, in his letter to the Romans wrote “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in
that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:8-9).

Based from the above scriptures, it is clear that our own salvation was not caused by us.
We cannot save ourselves, no amount of living good or doing good works will save us. Rather,
by the Grace of God, we are saved. Grace is the unmerited favor to an underserved. We do not
deserve to be saved but by Grace, we are saved. It is God himself who did something to save us
because of his immense love for us.

Jesus knew that when he became man, he was to die on the cross for us. Jesus knew He had
come to die. The scriptures are clear. It was planned even before the foundations of creation that He should
come into the world to die for us.
 In Matthew 16:21 (ESV) Jesus Foretells His own Death and Resurrection “21 From that time
Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the
elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
In Matthew 17:12 (ESV)
But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him
12 

whatever they pleased.  So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.”
And what happened on the cross? He voluntarily laid down His life for us because it was
the will of His Father that He should do so and because He loved us so much!  But more than
dying, something more happened on the Cross? There was an exchange! We should have been
there but instead he bore all of our sins, all of our iniquities, all of our transgressions, all of our
shame and guilt, all of our fault and NAILED it on the Cross! The Bible in Isaiah 53:5-6 and I
quote:
 
5 
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
6 
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

At the Cross, God looked at his own Son with despise and with wrath because Jesus took
all our sins. In those darkest hours, God’s wrath was upon him, who bore all the lashings, the
beatings, the spit, the crown of thorns, the ignominy, and all the judgment for the atonement of
our sins and nailed them on the cross. As he cried “It is finished” God redeemed us! For once,
we were lost, but by the blood of Christ on the cross, we were found again!
To the Corinthian church Paul explained that God the Father “made Him who knew no
sin  [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Here is the clear implication is that
Jesus took our guilt on Himself and paid the penalty for us by His death.

But the significance of the Cross was not only from the standpoint of God when we were
made clean by the blood of Christ. What is more significant is that aside from our redemption in
that we, who were once lost, is now found; more importantly, MAN CAN NOW HAVE A
RELATIONSHIP ONCE AGAIN WITH GOD! Man can now reach God and have a personal
relationship with Him. You see, that relationship was once fostered in the Garden of Eden but
because of sin, man was separated from God. On the Cross, that Relationship was not only re-
established but more so, it was re-affirmed in Christ.
The apostle Peter confirmed this great truth, that Jesus Christ “bore our sins in His own
body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).
 But then the Cross is not only our redemption and the reaffirmation of our relationship
with God. When Christ died and rose again, Jesus gave us a promise that we too shall live a
spiritual life with Him in his Kingdom. By dying, Jesus proved his humanity but by rising from
the death, Jesus proved his DIVINITY! And that we too, will live an eternal life with him in his
Kingdom that he has prepared for each of us.
But now that we know that we are saved, BY GRACE, is merely believing that he died
and rose from the dead to wash away our sins, enough? Can we say that since we have been
forgiven of our sins, once and for all, we can go on sinning over and over again and again?
In John 3:16:”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Is it therefore enough that we believe? Believing is not only a matter of the mind; it is
more a matter of faith! Faith is not only lived in the mind but more so, manifested in actions.

Having realized that we have been bought by the precious blood of Christ, when we do
not deserve to be saved, SHOULD GIVE US A FIRM RESOLVE that we should live our lives
in humility and OBEDIENCE. God wants to transform our lives, to build in us His
righteous character.

20 
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
I hope that now when we look at the cross, we do not see it merely as a relic or a piece of
display but rather a symbol of our salvation and a new found relationship with God and an
expectation of an eternal life to come! The Cross is a symbol of Victory that once and for all, we
have been redeemed and made right with God. It is a Victory that we too have been liberated
from death to life. It is not only a Victory that our sins are forgiven; more so, it is a Victory that
henceforth we can be victorious in living a changed life in CHRIST!
Happy Easter! God is ALIVE!
Sincerely,
Servant in Christ.
 This covering was an act of God's grace and was a foreshadowing of the last sacrifice for
sin, the death of Jesus Christ.