Mystery of the Passion of Christ (Image Credit: Wikimedia/Gorka Klasztorna)

Author: Yuanna R. J Chany

Introduction

(Pachodo.org) - In the world we live in today, many identify themselves as saviors or deliverers. However, none have died the death, which, when I was a child, I called the painful and darkest moment in human history. The bad Friday was how I called it during my childhood. Jesus, being the one who succeeded in removing the straight arrow of wrath aimed at humanity, none acted like Him. Figures such as Buddha (Buddhism), Muhammad, Vishnu, and Krishna (Hinduism), as well as African deities (supreme being, fickle spirit, or witch doctors), are considered “saviors” and “deliverers,” but they never delivered or contemplated saving people from the eternal wrath of God as Christ did on the Cross through His suffering on the horrible devices of Roman crucifixion.

This piece of writing will eulogize the great love that was bestowed upon rebels, the anguish of the True Savior in Gethsemane, the origin of sin, and how Christ dealt with it. The first section will discuss how great love was bestowed upon the rebels. The second section will express the King’s anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. Finally, the third section will address how sin entered the world and how Christ deals with it, followed by the conclusion.

The Unthinkable Love Of God

As Easter unfolds, we are reminded of the great exchange. The truth of God’s love for rebels, people who are at war with Him. It was when the King of Glory laid His life for us, allowing finite power to suffer His flesh and agonize Him. Oh, it's the manifestation of that glorious day, when Jesus said to his Father from eternity past, I will step in for the sake of sinners, to die on their behalf. Though it would not come easily, Jesus accepted it all. That is why we say, God did a deep work through the painful and brutal death of the righteous (Christ) for the unrighteous on the devices of the Roman government. As the songwriter wrote,

I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how he could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful
Is my Savior’s love for me…….”^[1]

The hymn writer extols the beautiful and marvelous love of God, yet with deep helplessness, he explicates the unthinkable reality of who humanity is. For God-man to die, for rebels, is an incomprehensible and inconceivable act ever committed. The God-man allowed Himself to suffer death for us who didn’t even have a heart to pursue His Father (God). This is a total blow to our minds and breathtaking love, for God to come down from Heaven and search for us, while we stand on the roadside gladly pursuing pleasures in sin. How do we know that this is the greater love? The next section will address how this deep love encompasses anguish, suffering, and death to the Messiah.

The True Savior’s Anguish In Gethsemane

One thing that makes most people uneasy is awareness of the certainty of pain or suffering before them. It is painful and wretchedly unhappy to see suffering and death coming with sureness. This is also true for Jesus, the God-man, to face this decisive forthcoming suffering and death before Him. Before He faced the Roman crucifixion, His soul was in anguish in Gethsemane. He prayed that the cup of suffering would be passed from Him (Matt 26:36-45, Mark 14:32-42). This “cup,” which was a symbol of the horrific experiences that lay before Him, was unthinkable and painful to swallow. It is the moment where He would “become sin” for his own people (v 38), to drink the cup of God’s wrath against rebels who hated Him. Brethren, this was what He had come to do (John 12:27; 18:11).

But now that the moment had come, the forthcoming suffering was so dreadful, so appalling that His holy nature shrank from it. However, in his prayers, He pointed to God’s way and will, not His own, though He was God. This is also for us to model even in our prayers as Christians today. In this scene, God will display his faithfulness in saving the rebels from the wrath and doom to come. The anguish indicates that Jesus Himself had great agitation, a sense of crisis, and an agonizing desire for help (Heb 5:7). And He prayed that He might not have to drink that cup if God could find another option to meet His purposes for the world. But because it was not designed as such, and even with His soul in agony, terrible awe, and anguish (Luke 22:44), Jesus accepted the will of God the Father, with gladness. This is not that God is not powerful enough to save His Son from the wrath and the horrible devices of the Roman government. No! That is not true of who God is. He is powerful above all. He was capable of saving Christ, but due to His faithfulness, He required the death of His Son for the crushing of Satan’s head (Gen 3:15). Therefore, it is not that God was a coward in saving his own Son. But, because He had a mission of redemption to be accomplished by Christ’s horrific suffering and death.

God turned his face away for the dregs of sin and wrath to be poured on a righteous, just, and blameless Jesus Christ. His Father turned his face away as though Jesus Christ was the sinner, and therefore could suffer a brutal death of agony. This death was not a surprise to Him (Christ), but to display His love for the Father’s mission and to us. Christ himself freely offered his flesh as the sacrifice to satisfy the holy demands of God under the horrible devices of the Roman crucifix (John 10:17; Romans 5:8; Hebrews 9:26). Therefore, the baptism Jesus received involved receiving God’s complete wrath that sinners were supposed to receive when God’s judgment appears (2 Corinthians 5:21). In John 3:16, those are people who will believe. In light of this event, no pouring of the holy wrath of God into an individual for God’s satisfaction has ever happened as such, nor has it occurred in the history of mankind. For God, the Father, to turn his face and God, the Son, to freely give himself into suffering is so tragic to our human mind. But for Christ, His joy is to buy a people for his own blood. From sin, humanity has died; from Christ, they will have life if they believe. You would be wondering where sin comes from, which could have caused the God-man to offer himself. The second point will address it.

How Sin Came and Its Consequences

Though today Genesis 1-11 is under attack not only from outsiders (atheists), but also from theologians or other schools of thought, the fact is that Jesus believed the Book of Genesis to be breathed out by God. Several times, he quoted it. In Matthew 19:4-5 and Mark 10:6-7, he quoted Genesis 1:27; 2:24, reminding us of God’s creation order of male and female and how He designed marriage. He also quoted Genesis 4 in Matthew 23:35, magnifying Abel to be a historical figure. Genesis, being a historical and non-mythological narrative, it’s worth firmly believing that sin entered humanity through the federal head, Adam. Through Adam and his bride’s disobedience, sin entered the world (Genesis 3). In Adam, sin spread to all men (Romans 5:12). Every person born of Adam, in this world, is engulfed by sin. There is not a thought, no word, no act, and no area of human life that is not affected, distorted, or corrupted by sin. We would argue a gazillion years that we are not sinners, but Adam was; however, the truth is our own sin probably makes Adam look like a puritan in comparison.^[2]

We needed to know that all have sinned responsibly and all will be judged by God one day. This is the trajectory of the sons of Adam. God is surely cutting off and will put those out of Christ in the lake of fire. Presently, God’s revealed wrath against those who suppress truth in their unrighteousness and sin; He hands them to a debased mind and depravity. But there is even a greater reality that awaits them. When the appointed time of a sinner’s death comes, they will consciously suffer the wrath of God forever (Mark 9:48). The future of those out of Christ is of relentless suffering in the eternal lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10, 14-15, 21:8). God has turned his face away from those out of Christ because of sin. For instance, Jeremiah recorded that “when God delivered Judah to her enemies because of her sin of idolatry and apostasy, it is written that He hid his face from them (Jer 32). We need to understand that sin is inherently a hatred of the things of God and therefore it is destructive. Sin makes God hide his face from us (Deut 32:20). In another way, what separates us from God is sin (Isa 59:1-2). However, from afar, God appears with his Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us.

The Solution: Christ Is

As stated previously, humanity is on its way, gladly pursuing its sinful pleasures, while the holy wrath of God is aimed at it, but then, God appeared. Martin Lloyd Jones stated, “We thank God for the 'but' in the Bible.” Today God has opened his arms through Jesus, welcoming every rebel who came to him in faith. Even in our rejection of him, he died for us. From the cross, not only the thief on his side, but also the weary and heavily laden are welcome to believe in Him. It’s on Good Friday, the day rebels, who are haters of God, were ransomed by the Sinless Messiah. It is the day the world clamored for a criminal’s freedom while casting out the only Truly Innocent Christ. Two thousand years ago, on this very day, Christ stood in our place, never turned his face away from rescuing us, but faced the horrible devices of Roman crucifixion with humility and no turning back, in his mission to the end. Oh, behold Christ on the Cross. Behold Him there: wounded, weary, thirsty, and echoing that piercing cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" Esh! Horrible. Oh, it is a bitter, unswallowable pill! It's the day Agony found its mark in the heart of the Son of God. Yet, in this shadow, we find our light. This is the scene of liberation, not just for the thief at His side, but for every soul roaming around the world. Though the price was bitter, He embraced the cross with a holy joy, knowing it was the only road back to the Father for you and me. May we fix our eyes upon Him.

See! Christ’s great love, anguish, and suffering on the brutal devices of the Roman government, as he endured to the finish line. He says, “It's finished,” though the story is not completed on the cross, but he is still on a mission to gather the other flock. You might be one today, and God in heaven is graciously opening His arm to you. Out of his great love for sinners such as you and me, He sent Christ to die for us. Now that is the only hope God has for us to escape His holy wrath. As John Calvin says “God declares to us that Jesus Christ, who once had His side pierced, today has His heart open, as it were, that we may have assurance of the love that He bears us; that as He once had His arms fastened to the cross, now He has them wide open to draw us to Himself; and that as once He shed his blood, so today He wishes us to be plunged within it. So, when God invites us so sweetly, and Jesus Christ sets before us the fruit of His death and passion…let us all come to take our stand with our Lord Jesus Christ.”^[3] This is a beautiful reality laid down by Calvin. Christ is calling us to himself today openly with a heart full of mercy and compassion. Through Adam, sin reigns, corrupts all, and the certificate of death spreads to all; but the good news is, God sent his only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Conclusion

In the midst of God’s love, though involved in the agony and suffering of His Son, he lovingly stepped into the mission of rescuing those who would believe in His Son. In this, everyone is called to trust in the accomplished work of Christ’s death and resurrection for the remission of sin. You and I need to be united with Christ in his death and resurrection by faith. While time still lasts, will you and I bend our knees before Christ in total obedience and be reconciled to God by believing in Jesus Christ? The Bible declares that all those outside Christ are dead in sins and trespasses, and they are appointed to the wrath of God. Therefore, there is no escape, apart from the loving gift of God, which is God himself. If you are a sinner, I kid you not, unless you believe in Jesus, you will not escape God’s displeasure and his holy wrath to come.

[1] Charles H. Gabriel. “I Stand Amazed in the Presence - Hymns.” Hymns, 2020, gccsatx.com/hymns/i-stand-amazed-in-te-presence/. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.

[2] “Why Do I Face the Consequences of Adam’s Sin When I Did Not Eat the Fruit?” GotQuestions.org, www.gotquestions.org/I-did-not-eat-the-fruit.html.

[3] Quotes by John Calvin Sermons on Isaiah’s Prophecy of the Death and Passion of Christ, p. 82. John Calvin