In 586 BC, the Babylonian army besieged Jerusalem. God had warned the city for hundreds of years that unless they repented of their sins, judgment would fall and now finally it had come. The sins of the city were off the charts, she had become more depraved than the heathen nations around her, and now she was experiencing the holy wrath of God at the hands of the Babylonian army.

 

The prophet Jeremiah puts words to the city’s suffering in Lamentations 1:12, “Is it nothing to all you who pass by? Look around you and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?”

 

The city would soon be turned to rubble. The Babylonian purpose was that it would never be rebuilt. The people who survived the siege were hauled off to captivity in Babylon. To any bystander, the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people had died forever.

 

Now fast forward some 600 years. Three crosses stand outside the gates of the resurrected city of Jerusalem.  On one of the crosses hangs the Savior of the world.  He has been so savagely beaten it seems a miracle he is still alive. He won’t be for long. The Romans and the Jewish leaders won’t leave until they know for sure - the rumors that this man might rise from the dead will never be fulfilled. He and his message will die forever.

 

Although they do not realize it, this man has become Jerusalem, and the sins of the city, indeed the sins of the whole world have been placed on him.  He is fulfilling what the prophet predicted 600 years earlier. “Is it nothing to all you who pass by? Look around you and see. Is any suffering like my suffering that was inflicted on me that the LORD brought on me in the day of his fierce anger?”

We along with the people under the cross that day find ourselves as participants and witnesses to a great mystery in which 3 truths intersect in a moment of time on that cross.

 

The first truth is the depravity of human beings.  What kind of sin is it that would do this to an innocent man in whom no guilt could be found? It began with simple envy. Who hasn’t struggled against envy and jealousy, except for Jesus? From Lucifer, to Cain, to us it begins with envy. Envy can be rooted in many things. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is fairest of them all?”  

 

We’d like the answer to be us. It’s not us. Who is the fairest of them all?  It’s Jesus, the one hanging on the cross.  We’d like to say that it wasn’t us who hung Jesus on the cross. If it wasn’t Jesus, then who is it we have crucified with our jealousy and envy?

 

But envy wasn’t the only symptom of depravity evident under the cross that day. There were lies, deception, abuse, oppression, miss use of power, arrogance, bullying, abuse, injustice, greed, abandonment, cowardice – you name it – it was there and since we’ll all participated in nearly all these things we were there, too. Our common depravity was never more evident.

 

There are those who in their denial say that we humans will one day evolve out of our sinful behavior. I’m sure there were those under the cross that day who would later wake up and say, “My God what have I done! I must have been crazy!”  Maybe as you look back over your life you have come to that point as well.  The first truth we see at the foot of the cross is our utter depravity.

 

The 2^nd truth we see is the holy wrath of God against sin. Romans 1:18 says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”  

One of Satan’s greatest lies is that God is too nice to get angry.  That’s like saying “My parents love me too much to ever get angry with me so they let me do whatever I want.”

 

There are two reasons we have trouble understanding the wrath of God. First, when we think of wrath, we think of human wrath which is often selfish and abusive. God’s wrath is absolutely holy and righteous. God hates sin because sin destroys people and God loves people.

 

The second reason we have trouble with the word wrath is that we don’t want to be accountable. We are like a spoiled child who stamps his foot and demands of his parent, “Who made you boss of me!” We want to make up our own rules of what is right and what is wrong.

 

God’s wrath poured out against sinners is a sign of his absolute righteousness and integrity and sovereignty. It is also a sign of his love. There maybe no surer sign of the depth of our blindness and depravity than our tolerance of sin. You cannot perfectly love righteousness without perfectly hating sin. How much does God hate sin? Look at the cross.

 

All of God’s holy wrath against the sin of the world was laid on Jesus. Isaiah wrote, “He was stricken by God, smitten by him, afflicted.  He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was laid on him, by his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep had gone astray and the LORD laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

 

So here we are, at the foot of the cross where our depravity intersects God’s holiness – two irreconcilable realities.  So where did that holy wrath fall?  It fell on Jesus. Remember what the angel said to the shepherds tending their flocks just a few miles to the south? “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord!”

So right there on the cross at intersection of our depravity and God’s holy wrath against sin a third truth passes through.  It is God’s grace and mercy. Paul writes God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21

 

Jesus looked down from the cross at those who had envied him, lied about him, gossiped about him, ridiculed him, judged him, condemned him, beat him, spit on him, faulted him, jeered at him, and crucified him and said, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.”  Then with his final breath, he said, “Tetellestai, it is finished, the debt is paid in full”.  

 

Behold the life-giving cross on which hung the salvation of the whole world. It is the intersection of our depravity, the righteous holy wrath of God, and his amazing mercy and conquering love on our behalf through Jesus Christ. Behold the life giving cross on which the debt of your sin was paid in full. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, HS. AMEN