2 Corinthians 1:18 NIV

The message of the cross is the finished work on the cross, if you don't understand the cross; you will not understand what suffering is, and if you don't understand what cross and sufferings are, then you will not value the death of Jesus on the cross, which is the finished work on the cross. Let's examine step by step what the finished work is.

Jesus who is the only Son of God, who sits at the right hand of God, encircled by the twenty-four elders, who sit on the circle of the earth, worshiped by the angels and the four living creatures, the root and the offspring of David, in whom all things were created, who rules in the affairs of men, took a decision that really hurt him, he accepted to take the form and the nature of man and went through a difficult process when he was born in this wicked world.

For unto us a child is born this day in the city of David a saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11 KJV

"…And they will call him Immanuel—which means, God with us" (Matthew 1:23 niv) on the other hand , God who is a spiritual being has come to be with us physically. I wonder how Jesus coped with the environs. Take for instance, it would be very difficult for a rich man—who did not experience poverty from his childhood—to suddenly become a poor man, or a son of a rich man, who has been living in the city, to suddenly see himself in the village where local food are being eaten.

I wonder how heavenly the atmosphere is in heaven, but Jesus left that conducive and comfortable place to come into this world. He became a Son of Man, born in the flesh, weaned, did domestic works, attended some training at the thirtieth age of his life, and started his ministry, which was the main reason he came. He healed many, raised the dead, restored hopes to people, fed many, and reached out and touched lives.

Let's follow Jesus to Gethsemane, Golgotha, Calvary, and to the cross. Imagine Jesus standing before the chief priest, and Pilate, he looked at the crowd and saw the people he healed shouting "crucify him, he deserve death!" Imagine him looking into the multitude and saw the people he fed when they were hungry, people who had came to him when they had nothing to eat, the people whom he gave a miraculous wine, the people whose dead loved ones he raised, suddenly turned against him, demanding to Pilate that he should release a murderer, who must have murdered one of their relations.Pause and rethink, if you were in Jesus' shoes, how would you feel? Or how would you feel if a person you helped become somebody in life who'd reward you evil? I wonder how Jesus felt when he stood before Pilate and saw those people shouting that he must be crucified. In fact, I wonder what was going on in his mind, would he be deliberating on what he did to Judas when he betrayed him? Or what he did to Peter when he denied him? Where did he offend the crowd for condemning him and chose a murderer instead? Whether he had a case with Pilate that he should listen to the crowd? Tell me which one would he be contemplating on?

Imagine the heart of Jesus beating in agony and pain. Pilate did not hesitate to have him flogged. Imagine him being flogged by trained Roman soldiers, and was given a very mighty cross to carry. There was no time given to him in order for the pain to subside. The crowd was pushing him to carry the cross. Imagine the pain, the pressure, the weight of the cross, the noise from the crowd, the long distances to Golgotha, he did it all just for you and me.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

Imagine the nail penetrating, passing from flesh to dry wood, what a terrible penetration! "He was pierced for our transgressions" (Isaiah 53:5 NIV) beside him were two condemned criminals "he was assigned a grave with the wicked" (Isaiah 53:9 NIV).

His first cry was "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34), and despite the pain, the betrayal, the sorrow, the agony, and the blood coming out from his head and body, he still spoke of forgiveness even to the condemned criminals, "the punishment that brought us peace was upon him" (Isaiah 53:5 NIV). There on the cross, he still gave the criminal a room for repentance, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43) just in a moment, a sinner was made a saint.

How did Jesus cope with those pains on the cross? A detail study shows that our Lord's first cry from the cross were uttered in the first place of his crucifixion, so between his third and fourth cry, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani—my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? There was nearly five hours of silence. And I kept wondering what was going on during the time that he said nothing. Was he thinking the reason why God left him? Or the reason why Judas betrayed him? Or what he did that warrant such level of punishment? Was he thinking about the pains, or what? Who can tell what was going on during those hours of silence that he asked "my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?"

He must be thinking about something during those periods of silence. When I go to heaven, I will ask him what he was thinking during such long hour of silence because I really want to know. Have you ever been despised, rejected in the midst of sorrow and pain, abandoned by loved ones, if yes, how does it feel? What goes on your mind during those periods of rejection?

He was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows, and familiar

with suffering… For he was cut off

from the land of the living; for the

transgression of my people he was

stricken.

Isaiah 53;3–8 NIV

Selwyn Hughes commented, "we cannot really understand these words of Jesus 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' Until we understand what went on in the silence that preceded them." No matter what it might be, all was the finished work on the cross.

The seven words on the cross could be spoken in just a few seconds, but it took Jesus six hours. Have you ever been so tired, hungry, and thirsty? How does it feel? Which one is easier? The arrest, the arraignment before the high priest, the flogging, the cross he carried, the long journey to Golgotha, the intense physical torture, the tearing of the wound—inflicted by the brutal Roman soldiers' rough handling, the crucifixion, the pain and agony of hanging naked before his friends and family members? "The crucifixion was designed to keep a victim alive for as long as possible, producing the maximum amount of pain.

" … for it is written, Cursed is every

one that hangeth on a tree.:

Galatians 3:13 KJV

It's a known fact that when you are weak, it takes more time to talk than when you are strong. He suffered for the offence he never committed; a doctor who made a special study of our Lord's crucifixion says that the weight of his body hanging on the cross would have put much pressure on his diaphragm that it would have been extremely difficult for him to draw enough breath to speak. Of course, to draw in air seems to be uneasy because during inhalation, there is always a contraction, the inter-costal muscles pull upward and outwards, and the arching central portion of diaphragm straightens and pulls outwards. There is a sudden increase in the volume of pleural cavity. The atmospheric pressure forces air inside the pleural cavity through trachea, but it is very easy to exhale there is always a relaxation of the diaphragm, the diaphragm will return to its natural dome shape.

During these period, he did not complain about his situation despite the pain, the heat, the noise, and the insult— this is Jesus the king of the Jews—the only cry of physical torment from his lips was "I am thirsty" (John 29:28). After the long period of silence, till the time he finished reconciling us with God, he said, "…it is finished…"(John 19:30)

He did it all for you and for me. Are you still doubting whether God loves you by allowing you to be crushed, are you still doubting whether God loves you or not? The finished work on the cross has the answer for it "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish…" (John 3:16 kjv). This shows that as long as you are in the world, he still loves you.

"For whom he did foreknow, he also

did predestinate to be conformed to

the image of his son…"

Romans 8:29 KJV

Sometimes, it seems that God is unconcerned to what is happening to us. When we look into our lives and the lives of others, precisely unbelievers, we will begin to see a lot of differences that worth no comparisons. They seem to be in a better position, getting what they want at the time they like, and then we begin to ask, is God partial? Does he willingly afflict his people? Sometimes we keep asking if God knows that we exist, he knows, but it takes grace and faith to believe it.

For therein is the righteousness

of God revealed from faith to faith:

as it is written, the just shall

live by faith.

Romans 1:17 KJV

Faith and grace is the answer. I see faith as fuel in the tank of our vehicles of personal challenges that will see us through and keep us moving, especially when the going gets tough, until we reach the land of Canaan. For every promised land, there is always a giant. Hence challenges are the giants that try to hinder you from reaching Canaan.

I also see grace as oil that reduces our friction, and challenges; it acts between us and our challenges, thereby doing the work of reducing the pain. If grace does not act between us, the challenges will cause wear and tear of our belief in God. As oil reduces wear and tear in a machine, grace will also reduce the pain of our challenges. You need grace to keep you functioning and the faith to keep you moving.

God is in the business of making. He wants to mold you to be like Jesus, and challenges are part of the molding, trials of all kinds are part of the system. Do you know what it takes to make and what it takes to be made? Both he who makes and he who is made, suffer the same pain: he shares your

hurts. Have you ever seen where they melt iron? Because of high technological development, people can now use blast furnace to melt iron. But think of ninth century when science and technology was still a dream to come, people had to use charcoals to melt iron, and only God knows how they suffer and how the iron suffer too—though iron is a non living thing, but it does not consider it pleasure staying in such intense heat for a very long time.

By using the furnace, the faster the process, the lesser the pain; but with charcoal, the slower the process, the more the pain—both parties are in great pain. The Bible said, "To be conformed to the image of his son" (Rom. 8:29 kjv) that is, taking the form of Jesus. Do you know what it takes to take the shape, the nature, and the form of Jesus? It takes passing through the fire of life.

Let's go back to the story of iron. Do you know what it takes cast iron to take the shape of an object? It has to be subjected to the temperature of not less than 1,500 degrees Celsius continuously until the iron turns deep red so that it can be beaten to take the shape of the object it is expected to be. It has to be heated in the furnace so that it can take the desired shape. Do you know how painful and tough this process is? But at the end, it brings joy to the iron, the maker and the user. God is in the process of molding you using the fires of life, and the fires of life could be those pains you are passing through now, they are what he uses to mold you, and at then you will rejoice when you must have seen what he has done in your life.

God wants to make you to be like Jesus, but do you know that God first made him (the finish work on the cross)? And for you to be like him, you must be made. For you to take the form of Jesus, for example, if Jesus is meek, a process led him to be meek, then you will have to go through that process of meekness making, if he is pure, gentle, righteous, poor in spirit, etc, all those characters you can see in his life does not take one process, each attribute has its own painful procedure, you have to go through those makings.

Water has no shape, it takes the shape of its container but you have a shape and Jesus you want to take his form has a shape and for you to take the shape of Jesus, you must be beaten like iron, grinded like powder, crushed for you to be able to take the shape and the form of Jesus but if that is not done, some part of you will not perfectly fix itself where it suppose to fit in the shape of Jesus.

Iron is very strong to break and bend but for it to take a particular shape, it must pass through fire. The process of making is always very painful but glorious at the end. He that is in a game knows the rules and the system of the game.

God is still in the process of making. "Behold I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5). Do you know what it takes to make an old thing new? Let's take a look at recycling factories, they will gather used and obsolete things like metal scrapes,heat (melt) it and use it to produce that same thing but in a new form, that is exactly what God is doing in your life.

During the process of making, he does not change your name from A to B, you will still remain A you were formerly known for, the making has nothing to do with your name, height, stature, genes, size, color, etc., but it is molding of character, mindset, and system of reasoning.
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God cannot trust you if you have not face challenges of life. If we human beings could take our cutlery like spoon for electroplating so that it will take a new look, how much more God ? How you endure the fire of life will determine how long you can last and the level the Lord can trust you because if you are faithful with a small thing, he will put you in charge of many things. No matter what is happening in your life, whether good or bad, it's part of the system, be it pains, be it tears, be it sorrow, be it hunger, whatever thing it may be, that is part of the making. When Job was in this process of making, he lifted up his voice and said "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him…When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold" that was the comforting words of Job. The purpose of making is not for destruction but for reformation. God's fire of life does not burn and kill.

THE FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS

If you still doubt that God does not love you, could you be kind enough to answer these questions: why is it that you are still alive? Those people who lost their lives in a tsunami and hurricane, are you better than them? Are you more righteous than them? Is your life more precious than their lives? Can you tell me the reason why you slept last night and still woke up peacefully this morning? Do you know that a lot of evil do occur in the night? A lot of people are being infected with different kinds of ugly sickness—read Psalms 91 to see some of the things that happen in the night—upon all those things you still wake up peacefully).

David said in Psalms 23 KJV "He restoreth my soul…" do you actually know what it means? Do you know what happens whenever you sleep? Do you know number of places your soul traveled to while your body was lying on the bed? Don't you know that anytime you sleep, your soul will embark on abstract travel? But after everything, the Lord will restore your soul in the morning. Have you not heard the crisis of people, they were perfectly ok before they slept but they do not wake up and just like that they died?

Your waking up this morning is enough reason to prove to you that God loves you. If he did not love you, he wouldn't have restored your soul in the morning; he would have allowed you to pass to death.