Jesus Paid It All

I just got back from a Good Friday service over at the State College Alliance Church, a joint service with the E Free & CMA congregations. There were plenty of good hymns and Scripture readings, and they also invited everybody to write a single sin of theirs on a piece of paper, and pin it up on the wooden cross at the front of the church. I thought that was a really cool idea. It was also a powerful visual to see just one sin from all the people in merely two congregations in an out of the way town called State College more than cover every last bit of the cross. Just think how much sin each one of us has in us, and how many crosses that would cover in the same manner! And just think how Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe, took the sins of not just you and me, but the entire world, upon Him when He let Himself be crucified! By offering His own Son as a pure and perfect sacrifice on our behalf, saving us from what would be certain eternal torment if we had to stand in judgment before His throne on our own merits, God has given us a gift beyond price. God’s goodness, demonstrated through Jesus on the cross, is why it’s called Good Friday, after all.
Last night the two churches got together at my church to watch “The Passion of the Christ,” but I didn’t go to that, as I saw it twice in the theater when it came out a couple years ago. Instead, I had a few people from PSCG (Stephanie, Kerrie, Tracy, Mike F. from church, Steve & John) over to watch “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ.” It’s one of my all-time favorite movies, and I think it’s a wonderful film to watch during Holy Week; I wish ABC would show “Ben-Hur” instead of “The Ten Commandments” every year on Easter Sunday, but oh well. Mike & I were talking for a bit afterwards, and he made the extremely valid point that while movies like “Ben-Hur” or “The Passion” might be able give us a glimpse into the immense physical pain that our Creator went through in the scourging and the crucifixion, they can’t even begin to describe the whole spiritual side of the pain that Jesus must have experienced. Imagine for a moment that our finite, fallen minds could even begin to imagine being in perfect communion with God, and then having Him forsake you for a time. All the physical pain Jesus endured must have paled in comparison to that. Yet He loved us so much that He was willing to suffer infinitely on our behalf, and pay all our sins! What an amazing God He is! Jesus paid it all, and for that we can be joyful!
Ponder with me the words of the classic hymn, “Jesus Paid it All”:
I hear the Savior say,
“Thy strength indeed is small;
Child of weakness, watch and pray,
Find in Me thine all in all.”
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete,
“Jesus died my soul to save”
My lips shall still repeat
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
O Praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead!
O Praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead!
O Praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead!
O Praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead!
JESUS!