Heaven beheld as Jesus was betrayed into the hands of the murderous mob,
and with mockery and violence hurried from one tribunal to another.

Angels heard the sneers of His persecutors because of His lowly birth.

They heard the denial with cursing and swearing by one of His best-loved disciples.

All of heaven saw the frenzied work of Satan, and his power over the hearts of men and women.

Imagine this terrible scene...

The Savior seized at midnight in Gethsemane,
dragged to and fro from palace to judgment hall,
arraigned twice before the priests,
twice before the Sanhedrin,
twice before Pilate,
and once before Herod,
mocked,
scourged,
condemned,
and led out to be crucified,
bearing the heavy burden of the cross,
amid the wailing of the daughters of Jerusalem and the jeering of the crowd.

Heaven viewed with grief and amazement Christ hanging upon the cross,
blood flowing from His wounded temples,
and sweat tinged with blood standing upon His brow.

From His hands and feet, the blood fell,
drop by drop,
upon the rock drilled for the foot of the cross.

The wounds made by the nails gaped as the weight of His body dragged upon His hands.

His labored breath grew quick and shallow,
as His soul panted under the burden of the sins of the world.

All heaven was filled with wonder when the prayer of Christ was offered in the midst of His terrible suffering,
—“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34.

Yet there stood men,
formed in the image of God,
joining to crush out the life of His one and only Son.

What a sight for the heavenly universe!
(Inspired by The Desire of Ages)

Controversy

How did we get here?

How can anyone make sense of Jesus, a man who lived a perfect life hanging on a cross?
Even more puzzling how do we end up with the Son of God dying on earth?
To make matters even more complex, Jesus is God, He is our Creator, why is He dying, when it would be more convenient for Him to simply destroy us and make a brand new earth?

The Bible refers to Jesus dying on the cross as “a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23).

If you were starting a revolution, a movement to impact the whole world, would you have the hero of your story, the savior, die a humiliating and painful public death?

Seems odd right? Who would come up with this story and think it is a good one? Would it not be much better to have the hero be incredibly strong and have him destroy all his enemies? Would that not be a much better story to tell, would that not be a better hero? One you could be proud of?

Why would you tell the story of the hero dying a terrible death while all his followers ran away? The cross sounds more like a defeat than victory. Yet here we are, still talking about it, some 2000 years later.
Why does this story persist?

A story about an all-powerful God who toys with His creation and uses them as mere entertainment or slaves makes sense.

A story about a mighty God who is indifferent to the lives of lower beings living in a speck floating around in a vast universe makes sense.

There are so many stories about various gods, so many religions and beliefs, and so many fables, yet here we are talking about one which is particularly challenging. A story where we have the most powerful God, in fact, the only God, the creator God, dying for His creatures, that He created, that He could easily destroy, that cannot live without Him. Yet God not only sustains us, even as we live in rebellion against Him, but He also died for us.

This kind of love, and this level of self-sacrifice, make my head spin.

This story is so odd, that this God, after doing all this, offers us the gift of salvation, offers us eternal life, as a free gift. He then tells us to tell everyone the good news, that they don’t have to die, that they can have eternal life, that they can have hope, and that everything will be okay. There is no special reward for us doing this, we do not gain bonus eternal life, or a bigger house on the new earth depending on how obedient we were.

Yet, people who truly believe in this wild story, of a God who loved the world so much that He sent His one-of-a-kind Son to die so that everyone who believes in Him would not have to die, but instead have life that would never end, live a transformed life. These people who believe in the God of the Bible live a transformed life. Their life does not make sense. They help people for free! They go out of their way to be kind to people they don’t even know. They volunteer and give and help and do things to help those who could never repay them. You would expect these followers of the God of the Bible to be miserable people, to be poor and exhausted from all that volunteering and helping and donating. Yet, they seem to be healthier, happier, and more content than those who live simply to gratify their own selfish desires.

Many of these people give away 10% of their income, and a good number of them give even more, not to mention countless hours of volunteer work. How can people who give so much live happy and healthy lives? How can they have enough for themselves? Especially in this economy?

In a world that is becoming more and more divided. When people find all kinds of reasons to fight and offend and attack, these believers in Jesus come together and enjoy a sense of community based on helping each other and even those outside of their group.

This is very puzzling indeed.

As you can probably tell by now, this story is no regular story. Though many try to discredit it, poke fun at it, and downplay it, it is the most powerful story in the world, because it introduces the listener to the very heart and character of God.

The enemy

This is explained in more detail in my post One Story to Rule Them All, but Jesus explains the existence of evil by claiming “an enemy has done this” (Matthew 13:28). This enemy is called Lucifer (light bearer), Satan (adversary), Devil (false accuser), among other names.

Lucifer had been originally an angel of light.

“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The sardius, topaz, and diamond,
Beryl, onyx, and jasper,
Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold.
The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes
Was prepared for you on the day you were created.
“You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you;
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created,
Till iniquity was found in you.
- Ezekiel 28:12-15

Lucifer was cast out of heaven because he desired to be God.

“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
- Isaiah 14:12-15 NKJV

Lucifer started a rebellion in heaven. He wanted to be God. Lucifer believed that he could do a better job than what God was doing.

And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
- Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV (bold mine)

Not only did Satan start a rebellion, Revelation 12:4a tells us that "His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth." I understand that to mean that one-third of the angels of heaven followed Satan in his rebellion against God. (In prophecy sometimes stars represent angels Revelation 1:20)

Satan had been so crafty with his lies that I believe it was not until the brutal death of Christ on the cross that the character of Satan was clearly revealed to the angels. Satan's deceptions had been so masterful that even holy beings had not clearly seen the true nature of his rebellion.

These verses help paint a fuller picture of the story of redemption.

You may be wondering, why did God not destroy Satan right away? Why cast him to earth?

God could have destroyed Satan and the rebellious angels as easily as you can cast a pebble to the ground, but He did not do this. God was not going to crush a rebellion by force. Coercion is found only under Satan's government. God's principles are very different. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means He uses. God's government is moral, and truth and love are to be the prevailing power.

If God simply crushed Satan and his followers He would have proved Satan right. God would forever appear to be a tyrant instead of a loving God. The whole universe would follow God out of fear of being destroyed and the angels would have forever wondered if Lucifer really would have been a better ruler. 

Time reveals the truth

Satan came to earth and tempted Adam and Eve, and when they fell, they chose Satan over God. Now the universe would watch and see the outcome of Satan's style of leadership.

Aleister Crowley, an occultist from the early 1900s, claims that "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."

I really don't want to chase that rabbit into the occult and satanism, etc. but I mention this just to point out how his law is diametrically opposed to God's law which can be summed up in loving God above everything else and your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:34-40)

God's law is focused on others while Satan's is focused on self. God says "If you love me keep my commandments" (John 14:15) Satan says "Do whatever you want."

Another way of describing this is God has a law, and Satan is against the law.

Being an outlaw can seem harmless, even fun. Doing what you want doesn't seem like an evil way to live one's life. So you can see why Satan would have gained a following, and why many others who did not follow him might still have wondered if maybe Satan was not that bad of an angel, maybe he was on to something.

How we view God

Many seem to view God as a harsh, old-fashioned, stern, all-powerful being who can't wait to zap those who disobey His will. Satan has done a good job spreading his views of God. Sadly he seems to have used the church on many occasions to misrepresent God and turn many away from Him. Causing many to believe that they can indeed be much happier living without God, living as if God did not exist, just doing whatever makes them happy.

Enter Jesus 

God revealed Who He is in the Old Testament. His grace, His mercy, His patience, it’s all there. But that was not enough. Jesus' life on earth is the greatest revelation of who God is.

Through Jesus, God's mercy was manifested to humanity. Jesus was the Word of God made flesh (John 1:14). Jesus lived a perfect life, a life of perfect obedience to the law of God, and though He was tempted like us, Jesus never sinned (Hebrews 4:15 [more verses about Jesus' sinlessness]). Since Jesus never sinned, that means He never broke God’s law (1 John 3:4). In living a perfect life Jesus was nothing like the religious leaders of His time.

In living a life that followed the will of God in every aspect with perfection Jesus was not an unpleasant person, rather the opposite, children wanted to be with Him and multitudes followed Him. Jesus brought life and healing and clarity regarding the will of God. Jesus revealed not only the true character of God, but also what a perfect life of obedience looked like, not something terrible, but rather the greatest blessing this world had ever witnessed.

Relating to the Law

Nevertheless, mercy does not set aside justice. The law reveals the attributes of God's character, and not a jot or tittle of it could be changed (Matthew 5:18) to meet humanity in its fallen condition.

God did not change His law, but He sacrificed Himself, in Christ, for the redemption of all humankind.

“God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.” 2 Corinthians 5:19. 

I believe everyone understands that the law requires righteousness,—a righteous life, a perfect character; and we humans cannot offer this to God, because we have all sinned (Romans 3:23). We cannot meet the claims of God's holy law.

But Christ, coming to the earth as man, lived a holy life, and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive them. His life stands for the life of men.
The Desire of Ages page 762

This is how our past sins are forgiven, thanks to God's patience. More than this, Christ imbues us with the attributes of God. He builds up our human character to become more and more like His divine character, full of spiritual strength and beauty. This is how the very righteousness of the law is fulfilled in the believer in Christ. God can “be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:26. 

I find it amazing how God's love can be been expressed in His justice just like in His mercy. Justice is the foundation of God's government, it is also the fruit of His love. Satan tried to separate mercy from truth and justice. Satan sought to prove that the righteousness of God's law is an enemy to peace and happiness. But Christ shows us that in God's plan justice and mercy are inseparable, the one cannot exist without the other.

“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”
Psalm 85:10.

Justice and Mercy

By His life and His death, Jesus proved once and for all that God's justice did not destroy His mercy. Jesus also made it clear that sin could be forgiven, and that the law is righteous, and can be perfectly obeyed. Satan's charges against God's government and character were refuted.

God had given humanity unmistakable evidence of His infinite love.

Satan, however, had one more trick up his sleeve. He would now proclaim that mercy destroyed justice, that the death of Christ did away with the Father's law.

The problem with this line of thought is that if it had been possible for the law to be changed or repealed, then Christ did not have to die. I have a whole post on how Jesus prayed to the Father asking if there was any other way, but there wasn't, so Jesus agreed to drink the cup (die on the cross for our sins). (Matthew 26:36-46)

The problem with doing away with the law is that doing so would immortalize transgression, and place the world forever under Satan's control. If the law was faulty in any way and needed to be changed somehow, it would prove Satan's claims that God's government was flawed and that he, Satan, could do a better job as God. It was exactly because the law was changeless, and because humanity could be saved only through obedience to its precepts, that Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Yet the very means by which Christ established the law Satan represented as destroying it. This is where we have the last conflict of the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

The death of Jesus on the cross demonstrates that God's law is perfect and immutable.

The cross also made manifest the true nature of sin, revealing the true character of Satan.

At the cross the destruction of sin and Satan was forever made certain, the redemption of man was assured, and the universe was made eternally secure.

Christ fully comprehended the results of the sacrifice made upon Calvary. To all these, He looked forward when upon the cross He cried out, “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

Finally, at the end of time, the final destruction of sin will vindicate God's love and establish His honor before a universe of beings who delight to do His will, and in whose heart is His law.

 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me,“Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
- Revelation 21:1-5 NKJV