He changed the world

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice…"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:45-46)

When Jesus died on the cross, He changed the world forever. Prior to His suffering, mankind lived in fear of God. People feared His anger, people feared His judgment. Some resented God for demanding that we be perfect in order to please Him. Many chose to live without God or to worship deities of their own invention, because there was no way that a sinner could live up to God’s lofty expectations.

On the cross, Jesus changed all that. In Christ, God reached out to sinful humanity with love in His nail-scarred hands. Jesus shed His lifeblood to make atonement for our sins; as a result, we don’t need to fear God anymore! With our sins forgiven, God’s anger subsides. With our sins forgiven, we don’t have to worry that He will punish us for making mistakes.

Jesus lived a perfect life, and He gave that life for us. We don’t have to be perfect, because Jesus has satisfied all of God’s requirements for us. There is no reason to waste time on any other religion or philosophy, because Jesus offers us welcome into the kingdom of God with no requirement except that we place all our trust in Him.

Sadly, Jesus paid a terribly high price to change the world. He was deprived of His rights. He was shown callous disrespect. His body was tortured with unimaginable pain. But worst of all, Jesus suffered the anger and punishment that God Almighty would have inflicted on each of us for being disobedient sinners. Never before had the Son of God been on the receiving end of His Father’s terrible anger. Our Lord suffered body and soul as He hung dying on the cross.

Jesus’ agony was so great that the world reflected His suffering. From noon until three that afternoon, the sun stopped shining. A supernatural gloom settled over Calvary, echoing the awful darkness that had descended on Christ. When the Lord of Life finally died, there was a massive earthquake, and many believers who were dead returned to life and left their shattered graves. That dark and dramatic day has since become known as Good Friday, because on it Jesus changed our world radically for the better.