One of the most beautiful things I’ve experienced over the past few years after hearing about it for several, is that even though you may have read parts or stories of the Bible before, each time you read, a new layer may be revealed to you or strikes you a different way. It’s called the living Word for a reason. His Words are alive and they breathe life into our lives where otherwise we would be lost.

Recently, in my study through John at BSF, we coincidentally…

read through Christ’s death on the cross the week of Easter.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence. 🙂

During the lecture portion, a couple of things struck me. First, the clothing that they stripped Jesus of. Why was this done and what did it mean? Jesus’s death on the cross was humiliating in many ways. He was beaten, whipped and slandered. He was physically, verbally, emotionally and mentally abused. When they stripped him of his clothes, this was done as a way to draw us all the way back to the beginning, in Genesis. Remember Adam and Eve? “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Nakedness in this time symbolized shame and guilt. That’s what the natural thing to feel was. For them, at this time, at Jesus’ crucifixion, to strip him of his clothes was to add to his humiliation and to expose him, expose shame and guilt – though they weren’t there, He had no guilt or shame being perfect.

A step further, what did God do when Adam said he was naked? “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.” Garments of skins were animals killed to cover up the sin of Adam. We see early on in the Word that nakedness exposes our shame and that sin causes death. Blood must be spilt to cover sin and in the earliest of cases (though definitely not the last) we can easily deduce that animals were killed to make these skins and from then on, animals were sacrificed to atone for the people’s sin.

By God’s grace and mercy we are clothed… not just clothed, but clothed in His righteousness. We can put on His righteousness because the price has already been paid. Our debt has been paid. There is nothing we can do to gain this righteousness ourselves and there’s no power in the world that can take it from us once it’s been given and received.

Another God working in the details item was that one article of clothing Jesus had, the item that they cast lots for was the seamless tunic that was woven in one piece from top to bottom. Who wore this particular item of clothing? Only the high priests.

Secondly, Jesus drank the cup that was given to Him. This cup was a symbol of God’s wrath. It signified the end, that the work was done and He had taken this cup in our place.

All the way back in Psalm 69, verse 21 reads “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” This mirrors what we read in John 19: “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “it is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Hyssop was used in passover to put the blood around the doors. Isn’t it only fitting that it be used here in the ultimate and final sacrifice?

Every piece of the love story that is the whole Bible to us, is important. God worked out all those details just how He worked out every detail of me and you. It’s amazing that we can read and know a story and still keep learning.

Have you recently learned anything new from the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection or any other Bible story? Feel free to chime in down in the comments. 🙂

Have a great Wednesday!