Full

Full: A Good Friday Meditation
This morning we are gathered together to remember a funeral of sorts.
· It was a dark day in human history and a day of great light.
· It was the worst miscarriage of justice and the greatest display of justice.
· It was a day of great agony and overwhelming tenderness.
· It was a day of repugnance and a day of love.

There have been many dark and horrible days in the wake of human history and there are certainly many more on the horizon; but there will never again be a day of infamy that even comes close to Good Friday.
(Read Mk 15:25-39)

The Apostle testified of Jesus saying, “For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The fullness of Jesus is summed up by his grace and truth; he was full of those rare traits. his grace and truth- can be said to be beheld at the cross because the Cross was full of Jesus laid bare. At the Cross we see perfect man and perfect divinity in beautiful hideous glory! At the Cross, the fullness of humanity and the fullness of divinity collide.

1. Humanity
When I say that we see at the Cross the full humanity of Jesus I mean that we see Jesus suffering perfectly as a perfect man. And so we see full agony at the cross, the perfect depiction of torment, misery at its total capacity; the full outpouring of the wrath of God towards sinners. It was our agony that we see; it was our torment displayed; our misery; the wrath that was stored up for us poured out on him. And the fullness of his affliction is a demonstration of the fullness of his mercy toward us.

Another ingredient of the crucifixion we see fully displayed is the fullness of Christ’s self denial. The night before Jesus fell to the ground and cried out to God,

that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. And He said, “Abba,
Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me;
nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.” (Mk 14:35-36).

John Newton lamented, “Death stung [Jesus] to the heart….”[1] Full of obedience the son forsook his own will. A.A. Hodge wrote,

"The whole earth life of Christ, including His birth itself, was one continued
self-emptying, even unto death. His birth, and every moment of His life, in the
form of a servant, was of the nature of holy sufferings. Every experience of
pain during the whole course of His life, and eminently in His death on the
cross, was, on His part, a voluntary and meritorious act of obedience.[2]

The full obedience of Christ is contrasted to the rebellion of Humanity. It is the Son’s love for His Father and the Father’s love for the world that brought Him to his obedient humiliation. A W Pink explains,

Among the Romans, death by crucifixion was the deepest possible humiliation.
…inflicted only on slaves and the lowest of the people, and if freemen were at
any time subjected to crucifixion for great crimes, such as robbery, high
treason, or sedition, the sentence could not be executed till they were put into
the catalogue of slaves, and that, by the utmost humiliation. …by servile
stripes and scourging, as was done to Christ. Thus the curse of God’s law was
executed upon the Head and Substitute of His people. To "preach Christ
crucified"… is to proclaim… His being "made a curse for us."[3]

And therein we see that the cross was full of love.

2. Divinity
When I say we see at the Cross the fullness of divinity, I mean that Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because as God, his atonement is infinite enough that even if every man and woman who ever lived were to believe in Him- it was enough. In His divinity, we see the fullness of providence at the Cross. God has provided a way for us; a way which He decreed before time. What powerful providence when we consider that God decreed the cross before the foundations of the world and, though the flow of history was according to the free will of depraved men, God’s hand, as the great Babylonian King observed, was never stayed, nor were His decrees ever annulled. Macarthur says,

His crucifixion was a vivid display of his authority over circumstances, people,
and even death. Far from being a tragic end to his earthly ministry, it was the
culmination of all he had set out to do.[4]

The chief end of man accomplished… God’s purpose in creating us achieved. He made us so that we would exalt and enjoy Him; so that He could show us His glory and so that we could enjoy that glory. The cross is the full display of the glory of God; for in it we see the perfect… full presentation of the wrath and love and power and foreknowledge and mercy and grace and holiness and providence of the living God. Enjoy the glory of God this morning; exalt His full display of His satisfaction.

Conclusion:
At the Cross the fullness of things collides: wrath and love; sin and holiness; humiliation and exalted glory; God forsakenness and redemption; rejection and acceptance; grace and truth; darkness and light; humanity and divinity.

And in that collision the Hope of man is accomplished and full.

Ever since by faith I saw
The stream your flowing wounds supply
Redeeming love has been my theme
And shall be till I die
And shall be till I die
And shall be till I die
Redeeming love had been my theme
And shall be till I die

NOTES:
[1]John Newton. The Works of John Newton - Volume IV. Joseph Kreifels.
[2]Quoted from Arthur W. Pink. The Satisfaction of Christ. Joseph Kreifels.
[3]Arthur W. Pink. The Satisfaction of Christ. Joseph Kreifels.
[4]MacArthur, J., F. (1997, c1988). The Gospel according to Jesus : What does Jesus mean when he says "follow me". Grand Rapids, MI: Academic and Professional Books, Zondervan Pub. House.