Power of the Blood of Jesus – Volume 13
Message Summary by AFT Team
We have been exploring the depths of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. We learnt about the wonderful exchange – on the cross, God exchanged everything that was good in Jesus for everything that was bad in us – He took our sin and gave us forgiveness (read blog here). He took our sickness and pain and gave us healing (read blog here). He took our unrighteousness and gave us the righteousness of Christ (read blog here). He took away death and gave us abundant life (read blog here). He took our poverty and gave us prosperity (read blog here). Today, we’re going to look into how Jesus took our shame and gave us glory and honour. Because of His loving sacrifice, we no longer bear the burden of shame.
Why did Jesus bear our shame?
…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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12:2.
When we use the word ‘disregarding’ in the place of ‘despising’, we understand the above verse better. He underwent extreme shame on the Cross but disregarded it for one purpose – the joy that was set before Him.
What is that joy?
For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. – Hebrews 2:10.
The joy that Jesus could see was the joy of being able to bring honour and glory for many. Because He took the shame, we have been given glory. When people hear the term ‘glory,’ heaven comes to mind, but glory doesn’t mean just heaven, it means glory here on earth. When they misunderstand glory for heaven, they think that Jesus underwent shame to give us salvation and take us to heaven. But to give us salvation and take us to heaven, all He had to do was die as penalty for our sins. And He did that. That would have been enough. Why specifically did He have to bear shame? So that we could have glory and honour.
But who are we that we should be blessed by such honour? Let’s consider the words of the Psalmist David in Psalm 8:3-4. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? Look at the heavens, the sun, moon and stars; we are small in the great scheme of things, but God is always thinking about us, His mind is full of us. Let’s read further –You have crowned him with glory and honour. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. Man’s place is right at the top, he is meant to be above only, and not be beneath. But man lost it all at the fall. Jesus endured shame on the Cross, so that He could experience the joy of restoring man to his original place of glory and honour.
How did Jesus bear our shame?
To understand how Jesus bore our shame, we have to understand Old Testament prophecies and how the writers of the New Testament referred to them. Peter says in 1 Peter 10:10-12 that the Spirit was in the prophets as they prophesied about Christ centuries before His birth. It was revealed through them, but not to them; it was prophesied for later generations. During his sermon on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:22-28, Peter quotes and explains that Psalm 16:8–11 written by David is actually about Jesus. Similarly, when we read portions of Psalm 69, we understand that it is not David who is speaking, but Jesus speaking through David. Now let us go through the Scriptures with this perception to learn how Jesus bore our shame.
We cannot talk about crucifixion without referring to Isaiah 53, one of the most moving prophecies about the suffering of the Son of God. Verse three says “He was despised and rejected by men.” He endured the insults and taunts hurled at Him as He was dying. He bore it all and forgave His tormentors. He knew that this torment was not the end of the story. He knew there was something else – that there was joy through His gift of glory and honour to man.
CRUCIFIXION – THE MOST DESPICABLE FORM OF PUNISHMENT
There was no death more shameful than crucifixion. It was the lowest form and most painful punishment in the first century for the most debased criminals. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, underwent the shame of the most despised form of punishment for our sake.
He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. (Isaiah 53:3)
Jesus endured the hostile crowds that followed Him during that lonely climb to Calvary. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be despised and rejected. That He would know the depths of sorrow and grief as no one else. We turned away and didn’t want to see him as the Son of God and Saviour of all humanity. Perhaps because He was put to death like a criminal, those who once followed Him and listened to His message turned away, their faith in deliverance from Roman rule shaken. He had saved others, but could not save Himself – they thought. But they were looking for a different salvation. Not the kind that Jesus came to bring to us. So, they rejected Him, cursed Him and turned away.
JESUS WAS TREATED WITH REPROACH AND SHAME
Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. – Psalm 69:7. One of the signs of shame is that a person wants to cover and hide their face; they cannot look up, they cannot look at others in the eye. Jesus, the blameless Son of God, bore the overwhelming shame of all mankind, so much so that He felt like covering His face.
JESUS WAS SINKING UNDER THE WEIGHT OF SIN
Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire,
Where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. – Psalm 69:1, 2. The burden of sin weighed heavily on our Lord’s shoulders. He was sinking deeper in the slimy filthiness of the world’s sins.
JESUS WAS HATED WITHOUT CAUSE
Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
They are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully;
Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. – Psalm 69:4.
But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’ – John 15:25.
Jesus had committed no crime and the Roman authorities could find no reason to crucify Him. He had done nothing but good works and many followed Him. However, those who hated Him for no reason clamoured for execution.
JESUS WAS REJECTED BY HIS OWN FAMILY
I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children (Psalm 69:8)
But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” – Mark 3:21.
His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” For even His brothers did not believe in Him. – John 7:3-5
While His family had witnessed His power many times, they were at once impressed and skeptical. On the one hand they thought he had lost His mind, but then, they challenged Him that if He wanted to be known, why didn’t He do things with more fanfare. They didn’t understand.
JESUS WAS REPROACHED FOR DOING THE RIGHT THING
Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. – Psalm 69:9.
Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten me up.” – John 2:17.
Jesus was consumed by zeal, hurt and anger at what He saw happening at the temple with those who sold the animals for sacrifice. Instead of being a place of worship, the temple had been turned into a money making exchange that served to exploit worshippers. But when He did the right thing and challenged it, they reproached Him for it.
JESUS WAS INSULTED
They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Psalm 69:21)
They gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink. (Matt 27:34)
Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink. (Matthew 27:48)
On the cross, Jesus said He was thirsty. Their response was not to bring Him water, but to bring something absolutely undrinkable as further insult. Instead of providing something to quench His thirst, they insulted Him by offering vinegar/sour wine mixed with a bitter herb.
JESUS WAS STRIPPED NAKED
They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. – Psalm 22:18.
Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: “They divided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.” – Matt 27:35.
God’s son, who came to redeem the sins of the world was stripped of His clothing as the Roman soldiers cast lots to determine who would get what. Nakedness is the ultimate humiliation. It causes extreme shame to the person. The creator of heaven and earth hung on the Cross disregarding that utmost shame of nakedness, so that He could give us glory and honour.
Shame makes you hide your face
Shame makes us hide our face. When we feel shame, there is a tendency to hide or look away, not wanting to face others with our shame. In trying to reason why Job was experiencing misery, Job’s friend, Zophar reasoned that if Job had done nothing wrong, he should be able to hold up his head without fear. (Job 11:14, 15).
When you overcome shame, you can look at God’s face
For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, ‘Exaltation will come!’ Then He will save the humble person. He will even deliver one who is not innocent; Yes, he will be delivered by the purity of your hands.” – Job 22:26-30. When you humble yourself and get right with God, there is no shame, you can turn your face to God and seek His mercy and grace. There is no reason to continue in a state of shame. When you release the shame and sense of condemnation, you are able to communicate freely with God in your prayer life.
When you overcome shame and turn your face to God, good things happen.
– Whatever you declare happens.
– Whatever you ask, you get.
– You shall decree and it shall get established.
– When they cast you down, you shall speak exaltation.
– Your prayers shall be heard by God.
God rescued us from eternal shame
Adam and Eve were living the good life until they disobeyed God and ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Once they tasted that fruit, they became aware of good and evil. Adam and Eve felt the burden of shame, condemnation and guilt as soon as they sinned. Man felt so shameful, so much so that he hid from God. The shame of sin caused him to shy away from God’s presence.
Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. – Genesis 3:21-24.
Finally, God sent them out of the Garden of Eden and they could not ever return. The reason God drove out Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and prevented them from eating the tree of life was because He does not want people to live forever in sin, condemnation, shame and defeat. But even from the beginning, God had a wonderful plan to restore man – to send His son to die on the Cross and take away man’s sin and shame. Sin, condemnation, shame and defeat are eliminated by the blood of Jesus. You can be delivered when you put your faith and belief in the one who came to redeem you. You can be free. You can throw off shame and lift your face to the Almighty. You can have freedom, liberty and victory in your life because of what Jesus did for you on the Cross.
Other links
- Watch the video of the whole message
- Start here with blog post of Volume 01
