28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
In high school I read a fictional story entitled the “Devil and Daniel Webster”, by Stephen Vincent Benet. The lawyer, Daniel Webster, was arguing in some type of meta-physical courtroom with the devil who had made a pact with a farmer for extra time on earth in exchange for his soul. When the time came to claim his soul the farmer hired the famed and brilliant lawyer to get him out of the bargain. By trying to argue that the devil was not an American citizen, a jury released the farmer from his contract. People are always hoping for a loophole when the time comes to die.
Heb 2:15 says, “Man lives all his life in the bondage of the fear of death.”
Even Jesus knew that His appointed time had come to complete his journey on the earth. He knew that all was now completed just as Scripture said it would be. Jesus would have been the only one who could have escaped death since He was without sin. The Bible says, “The soul that sins shall die”. (Ezk 18). We all experience death at our appointed time. The only reason Jesus agreed to face death was to free us from our sin and grant to us eternal life. He took our sins upon Him.
Jesus’ death was real. There were no loopholes. There were no fancy lawyers to get Him released. There was only the verdict that all stood condemned for sin. Justice required death. The only way to remedy our plight was for God to come to earth and take our place.
We will all have an appointed time planned by God when our life is ended on earth. Jesus is a story of love, of God’s gift of Himself to the world. We see how the story is played out to its conclusion when His human body ended, but the greater plan- His life for ours - began.
In that act of faith, the devil lost.
Application: As you live out your faith through the life of Christ, ask him to direct your steps throughout the day.
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from the law of sin and death. You lived a perfect life so that we who are flawed with sin could be free to live a glorious life in Christ. I love You Lord. Thank you for nailing my sin to the cross and rising again to give me new life.
