“This is the price of your disobedience.”

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

Over the years Adam saw in his two sons his own character. One son, Cain, bearing the fruits of his father before conversion and Abel, the other son showing the character of his father after conversion. Cain and Abel are the character of the same person, Adam. They struggle their entire life for supremacy. And always Cain (the symbol of sin and rebellion) will fight to remove the symbol of conversion and true repentance from our conscience, which is symbolized by Abel.

It was in the plan of God to display the Messiah, the Saviour in the life of Abel, reflecting His only begotten son Jesus Christ.

Seth was the third son. He reflected the recovered humanity, stronger in mental and physical stature than Abel. This was foreseeing the great plan of redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was the second Adam that will take the weak and feeble human nature to be elevated to a higher state that was meant to be. Jesus Christ would elevate us to the adoption of sons and daughters of God. And the implication is infinite. To be sons and daughters of God means to have a share in the mystery of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). This is infinite majesty, this is beyond our comprehension, is the overwhelming power of God’s love and God’s grace—a tremendous display of what the heart of a Heavenly Father can do.

After a few good centuries, another man not so great in physical stature like Adam, but strong in faith and conviction, arrives on the scene. Abraham repeated the same ritual—but this time, this “Adam” in the person of Abraham did not have a lamb on the altar but his only begotten son, in the person of Isaac. This test of faith and obedience was far greater than the test of Adam. The emotional pain was excruciating. The command was uttered once, and was enforced by the complete silence of God. After three days and nights without food and without sleep, the old great man is facing his last exit of faith. Resurrection. “God can resurrect my son, and he will do it,” he trusts by faith.

When the last embrace was offered and the last tears were shed, when the universe was invited to attend the spectacle of pain and agony, it was evident that what Adam could not sacrifice for selfish reasons, Abraham would accept by drinking the cup of bitterness to the full extent of human reasoning. Unfallen worlds, leaders of angelic hosts, were gazing upon the scene with woe and amazement.

It was then evident that the Lamb of God will be a man-lamblike Messiah. Such were the footprints of antitypical prophecy about the incarnation of the Son of God born in Nazareth.

In later years the psalmist David, by inspiration prophesies in Psalm 22, describing the experience of our Lord Jesus alone on the cross of Calvary, “for dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (verse 16).

Isaiah confirms this in chapter 53 of his book, where he describes in a vivid, unquestionable prophetic manner the tremendous suffering, pain and anguish of our beloved Saviour:

“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. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7–9).

This prophecy was fulfilled “while the disciple John was anxious and troubled about the sacred remains of his beloved Master, Joseph of Arimathea returned with the commission from the governor; and Nicodemus, anticipating the result of Joseph’s interview with Pilate, came with a costly mixture of myrrh and aloes of about one hundred pounds’ weight. The most honored in all Jerusalem could not have been shown more respect in death.

“Gently and reverently they removed with their own hands the body of Jesus from the instrument of torture, their sympathetic tears falling fast as they looked upon His bruised and lacerated form, which they carefully bathed and cleansed from the stain of blood. Joseph owned a new tomb, hewn from stone, which he was reserving for himself; it was near Calvary, and he now prepared this sepulcher for Jesus. The body, together with the spices brought by Nicodemus, was carefully wrapped in a linen sheet, and the three disciples bore their precious burden to the new sepulcher, wherein man had never before lain. There they straightened those mangled limbs, and folded the bruised hands upon the pulseless breast.”1

Thus was fulfilled that the Lord might indeed be “with the rich in his death.”

Over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament, are more than simple evidences that prove the historicity and prophetical coherency of the Scripture, anticipating the arrival of Messiah.

What is very sad is the fact that at the first appearance of Christ, the people were immediately expecting the glory of His second appearance. And now after 2,000 years, the people of God are waiting for Jesus to come in the secrecy and relative obscurity of His first appearance. Some call it “the secret rapture.”

Why so much confusion? Why so many misunderstandings? To answer properly to these questions, we need to unveil another chapter, maybe the most important, most vital chapter of the entire plan of salvation. It’s called Golgotha; it’s the chapter that revolutionized all of human history and turned the arrow towards a new direction.

This is not easy; this is not simple; it is the most complex theological question in the past and the present modern era: Why Golgotha?

First of all, Jesus Christ is our Creator, second, He is the Author of the Law, and accepted the humiliating position of becoming the Saviour of the world. On Golgotha Jesus cleared the character and honor of the Father from the false accusation of the fallen angel and the old enemy of God. On the cross Jesus proved that God’s character is love and justice united together. The risk was infinite and real, this following statement should shake every fiber of our conscience and open the eyes of our mind to the big picture behind the curtain that shows the tremendous implication that the plan of salvation would not have worked. Jesus is our Saviour—what a Saviour!

“He was the Lamb ‘without blemish and without spot’ (1 Peter 1:19). Could Satan in the least particular have tempted Christ to sin, he would have bruised the Saviour’s head. As it was, he could only touch His heel. Had the head of Christ been touched, the hope of the human race would have perished. Divine wrath would have come upon Christ as it came upon Adam. Christ and the church would have been without hope.”2

At Golgotha Jesus proved that salvation from sin, not in sin, is the reality of his sacrifice. On Golgotha Jesus Christ proved once again that the first chance of mercy must be given to His murderers.

Golgotha was made possible because Jesus was the Friend of sinners but not the friend of sin. In the process of conversion there is a two-way conclusion: Sin will crucify the Saviour in my heart or Jesus will crucify sin in my heart. There is no cooperation in between our Saviour and our sin. We cannot have two masters.

“The papacy is well adapted to meet the wants of all these. It is prepared for two classes of mankind, embracing nearly the whole world—those who would be saved by their merits, and those who would be saved in their sins. Here is the secret of its power.”3

If that is the secret of her power, what is the secret of the power of the people of God? “Here is patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).

Golgotha declares war on sin, and love to the sinner. What Christ is winning for us on the cross is the vital element lost in the garden of Eden by our forefather Adam, and it’s called will power. This was destroyed by his wrong decision and later the new course of our actions. Now is the time when Jesus interferes in between man and sin and revives in man the power to say “NO” to sin.

“The power which Christ imparts, enables man to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whoever is seen to abhor sin instead of loving it, whoever resists and conquers those passions that have held sway within, displays the operation of a principle wholly from above.”4

What makes man so touched in the scene of Golgotha that persuades him to stand against sin as never before? What is that something that will determine man to fight against his old friend, “SIN”?

“As we look upon Him whom we have pierced, we mourn for the sins that have brought anguish upon Him. Such mourning> will lead to the renunciation of sin.”5

It is not force, it is not a political compromise, it is the power of love—and if the love of God does not attract us there is no other resort to save us. God does not imply a service of fear to serve him, no, no, no, it’s just the simple attraction of His love that makes man to have peace in the presence of his Saviour.

Golgotha has changed the vision of the entire universe about who God is. The unfallen worlds will always remember afar the love of the Father that went for one single bit of atom called planet Earth to send his only begotten Son to redeem the human race.

This love was displayed being evident in every generation that lived on earth. To the first murderer of the world, Cain, the Father sent His best evangelist and missionary in the person of Abel. To the ten sons of Jacob guilty of murder, Jesus sent His best evangelist and missionary in the person of Joseph. To the worst Pharaoh in history, the Lord Jesus sent the best preacher He had at that time in the person of Moses; for the worst king of Israel (Ahab) the Father sent the best disciple He had at that time in the person of Elijah. When David was about to slay the house of Nabal, the Lord Jesus sent to David the best woman preacher He could find to arrest an emergency—the wife of Nabal in the person of Abigail. To Solomon Jesus sent a special preacher such as “Life.” Life was the preacher that taught Solomon precious lessons. To Herod the Lord sent John the Baptist. To Saul of Tarsus the Father sent the last disciple of the era named Stephen. And after the death of Stephen the Lord sent the “new Paul” to the worst Caesars ever known in the person of Nero.

After that, the Waldensians were sent to the popes, bishops, and cardinals of the Roman Church.

“The first offers of mercy must be made to the murderers of the Saviour.”6

What I have found mysterious and challenging for human wisdom is that the closest to the throne of God will be those that were the worst enemies of His Gospel:

“Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have followed their Saviour with deep, intense devotion. Next are those who perfected Christian characters in the midst of falsehood and infidelity, those who honored the law of God when the Christian world declared it void, and the millions, of all ages, who were martyred for their faith. And beyond is the ‘great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues’ . . . ‘before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.’ Their warfare is ended, their victory won. They have run the race and reached the prize. The palm branch in their hands is a symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem of the spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs.”7