“And He answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly.” (Matthew 27:14)
This Scripture tells of the response Jesus gave before His accusers. It was silence. The governor marveled because he knew Jesus was innocent. It’s not human to allow accusations especially those that mean it will lead to a crucifixion, to death without a rebuttal. It was the supernatural, divine part of Him completing His mission. It was the silence of obedience to the Father, obedience to His will and obedience to His work. It was the silence of His love for us that saw beyond the cross.
Afterall, the accusations were true! Yes, you read it right. He took our sin upon Himself. All the vile things they said about Him, all the wrongs that they could imagine were our sins. And He took them to Himself as His. He took the shame and guilt of them in silence. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) As the innocent sacrificial lamb for the sacrifice is led to be slaughtered, Jesus was led to the cross.
He is the Lamb of God, that was slaughtered for our redemption. He paid the ransom for our freedom from the kingdom of sin and darkness. He paid the price of death for our sin so that we could live in righteousness. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1Peter 2:24)
We cannot speak of redemption without understanding how we came to the point of needing redemption. In Genesis, over and over in His creation, God said that it was good. God made everything good, beautiful and holy. Man (and woman) enjoyed fellowship and the Father’s presence. They enjoyed the beauty of the garden where He’d placed them. They enjoyed the joy and peace that reigned in that place. They enjoyed the love between them, creation and God. But the enemy of God, subtly deceived Eve and tempted Adam to sin. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Romans 6:16) They yielded to and obeyed the enemy of God, becoming his servants, bringing all of God’s creation a curse including everyone that followed. All mankind now lived in the kingdom of sin and darkness, unable to escape sin and unable to live unto righteousness. If you doubt it, think about how many times before you accepted God’s gift of redemption you tried to do good, you tried to be good and you couldn’t maintain it for long. It was hard. It was arduous. Why? ...because we cannot be good nor do good if we’re not connected to God. And before receiving redemption, we were separated from God. The Bible says we were enemies of God. “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:10) Darkness cannot produce goodness.
But when we received the redemptive work of Jesus we can now choose to live in righteousness. The Holy Spirit indwelling influencing our new reborn human spirit to choose righteousness and strengthening us to obey God as He reveals to us of what we need to repent. When our flesh is tempted and when we fall into sin, that’s a part of us that needs to be surrendered to the cross and abandoned as the Holy Spirit continues to purge us of the unrighteousness of the flesh. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) Jesus started that work of righteousness in us. He will complete it.
The Lamb of God made it possible for us to come to that place we were created for, to have communion with the Father and to live in His kingdom, the kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus. “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17)
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