As God’s Messiah hung on the stake with His life flowing out of His side He uttered three words that would forever change the lives of those who would follow Him into eternity: “IT IS FINISHED” (Jn. 19:30).  Then He gave up His spirit, causing His death.  Read Did Jesus Die on a Cross?  Key word–Die.   Indeed, in a period of time lasting approximately 12 hours the potential Savior of mankind voluntarily accomplished the three-part commission that had been assigned Him by His Father.  But Satan, as is his custom, has successfully hidden from billions of salvation seekers approximately 2/3 of what Jesus “finished” on that fateful day in 31 A.D.   This series will bring to light the three things Jesus accomplished by dying on a hill called Golgotha just outside of Jerusalem.  I have been to that hill that has been so callously regarded since that fateful day.  When I was there in the 1970’s a bus station was located at its base.  In my mind’s eye I can still see people scurrying about, totally oblivious as to what had happened on the hill above them some 2000 years earlier.  I can almost smell the diesel fumes and hear the noises of the buses and the people going about their business.  I still remember the ache in my heart that I felt at that moment.

Ask any professing Christian why Jesus died and one will be told that He died so that man could have his sins removed, be saved and, following death or the rapture, spend eternity with the Trinity in heaven.  Only one of those five outcomes is Biblically correct.  Salvation cannot be attained in this lifetime.  There will be no rapture-to-heaven occurrence.  There is no such thing as a trinity.  Heaven is not the future home of God’s people.  Read Hope and Salvation/ The Rapture/ The Trinity/ The Kingdom of God.  Key words–Hope / Rapture/ Trinity/ Kingdom respectively.

The professing Christian mentioned above would have answered correctly relative to the removal of man’s sins.  However, he would be correct only TO A POINT.  As is always the case when Biblical “headlines” are put forth without the inclusion of the Biblical “fine print” passages that are meant to accompany them, part of the Lord’s sin-removal message is ignored.  Not surprisingly, it is the most important part.  Make no mistake about it, Satan knows how to hide God’s fine print from headline seekers.  He hides them because GOD IS IN THE FINE PRINT.  For example, what good does it do us to know that there is an incredible treasure (salvation) awaiting us at location X (headline) if we do not know how to get to that location (fine print)?  The question becomes more poignant when we admit that we have access to the Provider’s map that plainly tells us how to get to location X.  The situation becomes even more ridiculous when we proclaim that the map is correct, but refuse to follow it.  Insanity sets in when we choose to follow a human guide we pay to lead us by a distorted map which he claims is more accurate than the map provided by the map Maker/treasure Provider.  Total insanity ensues when we consider the fact that both the leader and we who follow him all own a copy of the treasure Provider’s personal map.  Complete lunacy reigns supreme when, with map in hand, we gather periodically to hear our hireling tell us that the map resting in our laps is terribly flawed, but all is well because the map in his head has corrected all the flaws.  The “headline” the guide repeatedly quotes concerns an unbelievable treasure (eternal life) that awaits those (members of “the” church) who will follow his “corrected version” of the treasure Provider’s personal map.  I believe “idiotic” sufficiently summarizes the afore-mentioned scenario.  Yet, that is the exact scenario that exists within professing Christendom today.

Treasure-hunters begin on track upon hearing about the treasure and where it is located.  However, instead of reading the map for themselves and following it, they hire a guide to tell them what the map looks like.  The guide, in obedience to his controller, ignores the true map’s  “fine print” (instructions) that seekers must be strictly followed (obeyed) in order to find the treasure.  Therefore they soon find themselves on the wrong track going in the wrong direction.  And because they refuse to consult the original map, they remain on that track until death, all the while “knowing” that they are on the Biblical God’s fast track to heaven.  Minutely few are those who consult and follow the true map.  Jesus states this Truth in Matthew 7:13,14 where He laments that “few” salvation seekers would “find” His “strait gate” and walk His “narrow way” leading to eternal life.  “Many” salvation seekers, He says, follow Satan’s false prophets through his “wide gate” and along his “broad way” that leads to destruction.  Read Bait and Switch.  Key word–Switch.

Exactly what did God accomplish by having Jesus beaten, put to death and resurrected?  In His Holy Treasure Map He explains that His Son accomplished three things, all of which benefited mankind.  We will STUDY His accomplishments in the order of their importance.  The most important of the three will be discussed last, for without it the first two would have no effect.

Accomplishment (point) number one involves the incredible beating the Romans administered to the Lord.  Scripture records that he was beaten beyond recognition, that He was so marred that one could not tell if He was man or beast.  The question relative to His vile treatment is: Why?  Why did Christ’s Father cause Him to be beaten so horribly?  Why did Christ voluntarily come to earth knowing that He would be “smitten by God, afflicted, wounded and bruised” (Isa. 53:-4-6) by those who would hate Him.  The Isaiah 53 passage holds the answer to those questions.  It is there that we find not only the “headline” (Christ’s beating), but also the “fine print” which consists of (A) why He was beaten, and (B) what caused the beating to be necessary.

Point one (Pt. A): why was Christ beaten?  Isaiah tells us in verse 5: “by His stripes we are healed.”  Generations earlier the God of the Old Testament (Who later came to earth as Jesus of Nazareth) said to the Israelites, “I am the LORD WHO HEALS YOU” (Exo. 15:26).  The fact that He was addressing Israelites and the Gentiles who had come out of Egypt with them will become ultimately important when we study Christ’s third accomplishment.  Jesus was beaten almost to death so that mankind could be healed of his sicknesses, diseases, injuries, etc.  In the next posting we will examine Point one Pt. B): why does man have sicknesses, diseases, injuries, etc. that need to be healed?  L.J.