The Crucifixion: The Final Judgment and the Dawn of Grace

Do you recall the beginning of the biblical chapter on Job? The chapter starts by offering us the backstory of why the events unfolded in the life of Job as they did. We, as the readers, are witness to an engaging discussion between God and satan. This backstory provides us the answer to the “why” question of what happened to Job. Job never gets this answer. God never mentions to Job why he had to go through all of this. There is no mention of the devil or of the bet God had with satan. I think we can easily imagine that what happened between God and satan that day, the backstory to the chapter of Job, as the spiritual realm. While the story of what actually happened to Job himself as the physical realm. In our lives, we live and experience everything as well as seek God in the physical realm. But God and Grace occupy the spiritual realm. How can we be more aware or cognizant of the spiritual realm?

The introduction of the story of Job is quite unique even to the bible itself. In most of the biblical stories, we rarely get such an exquisite behind the scenes look of how and why things have unfolded the way they did. God tells us that his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. This answer resembles more the answer that Job received rather the behind the scenes view we got. 

This brings us to today’s discussion: the crucifixion of Jesus. This single event is the pinnacle of all Christianity—the moment where everything changed, forever. Yet, in my experience across churches of all kinds, it is often underestimated, treated as just another chapter in the story rather than the climax of God’s redemptive plan. This neglect is more than an oversight, it is a failure to grasp the gravity of what happened on that day. To diminish the cross is to diminish the very heart of our faith. So, how can we give the crucifixion scene its due? How can we make the impact it carries on our spiritual lives clear?

Similar to what happened to Job, what we read about the crucifixion is the physical aspect of it. The spiritual aspect is hidden from us, or is it? I think the Christian explanation of the crucifixion accurately captures the meaning of it.  The Lamb of God dying for the forgiveness of sins, the new covenant of God written by the blood of Jesus on the hearts of the believers. Yet, we don’t seem to believe that do we? If we believe it, then why do we still obsess over good and evil and what is right vs what is wrong? I wonder if that is because we haven’t realized the full spiritual significance of what happened that day. And so, for today, the question I will attempt to answer is: what is the backstory of the crucifixion, the behind-the-scenes spiritual drama occurring at the cross? 

I think that the bible does offer us this backstage drama, we miss it because we keep conflating the physical realm with the spiritual realm. Personally, I believe that the end of the world events recounted in the bible and especially in the book of revelation are the spiritual backstory of the crucifixion. I think that the crucifixion was God’s final judgment on evil, the ultimate victory of the spiritual battle, and the greatest act of grace the world has ever known. I find that this view gives the crucifixion substantially more weight than most other interpretations. This vision emphasizes a cosmic significance to the events that happened during crucifixion and a spiritual finality and grandiosity to the grace that Jesus provided through his death. So, let us examine the story with this backscene and see what we get.

Let’s start with the crucifixion scene: 

From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).

When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.”

Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. (Matthew 27:45-53)

Moments before Jesus died on the cross, there had been darkness over all the land, this was darkness in broad daylight. It lasted for three hours starting at noon.

In the bible, darkness often symbolizes God’s judgment—a sign of His wrath, separation, or impending divine action. Amos 8:9: 

“And on that day, declares the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.” We see it again in Zephaniah 1:14-15 “The great day of the Lord is near… That day will be a day of wrath— a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom.” 

We talked a lot about light and grace. 1 John 1:5, says “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Jesus says he is the light of the world. So, what do you think darkness signifies here. If God is light, what role is darkness playing here? I want to reiterate again that this darkness is physical, what may have been happening in the spiritual realm is a different story. 

What I think is playing out behind the scenes here is something similar to that of the opening of the sixth seal in revelation:

And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17)

All the biblical passages depicting the great battle, the great destruction, the great devastation, and the wrath of God, are playing out during this time of darkness. It is a time of spiritual upheaval, and every spiritual body is involved in it. For us, darkness amounts to blindness. We can’t see what’s happening, neither physically nor spiritually. But we know that something is happening, and it is frightening just like the feeling we get when we read these symbolic passages. 

In the next scene, we are back to Jesus on the cross, to the final moment before he gives up the spirit. In John 12:31, Jesus states: 

“Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.” 

The physical cross is a torture and death device, but in the imagery of the final judgment scene, the spiritual cross is the great white throne of Revelations. It is the judgment seat of God. 

“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.” Revelation 20:11-12

On the cross, Jesus, wearing a crown of thorns, symbolizes the King presiding over this ultimate act of justice. Paradoxically, Jesus is the judge and the one being judged. As God incarnate, He has the authority to judge sin. Yet, He takes the role of the condemned, willingly bearing the sins of humanity. 

The moment of Jesus’s death on the cross is a pivotal moment. It is Armageddon, the ultimate battle between good and evil. In the spiritual realm, it is represented as an epic battle such as this one:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (Revelation 19:11-15)

The passage continues on to say that the Beast was thrown in the lake of fire, and the followers of the beast were killed by the sword. 

Yet, what happened in the physical realm was perhaps even more fascinating. The son of God, hanging on the cross, wearing a bloodied cloth, dies. He forgives those who caused him suffering and death and then gives up the spirit. But the death of God meant life for everyone else. It meant the destruction of the forces of evil, the killing of satan. It is strange to imagine that the physical battle at Armageddon was not won by the sword, but by sacrifice. The great battle of Good vs Evil was won by love, not by violence. 

We kind of know this—this is not totally new. But by applying the imagery from revelation as the spiritual backdrop to the physical scenes of the cross, we come upon an important realization. What Jesus did on the cross was the final judgment. It wasn’t a one-off happenstance. This brings us to another symbol in revelation, the harvest. The harvest imagery from both revelation and the parables of Jesus such as the wheat and tares emphasize how good and evil are intertwined, they are interconnected. We struggle to separate between good and evil, just as a farmer cannot easily separate wheat from tares while they grow together in the field. Our judgment is flawed, bound by appearances and limited understanding, but God alone sees the heart and knows the true harvest. Only He can make the final, perfect distinction. That’s why the harvest is left to be done by God and God does it perfectly. 

The outcome of the harvest is throwing evil into the great winepress of the wrath of God, into the lake of fire. It is clear from the passages that there is a finality to it. All the tares were collected and thrown in the fire. Yet we fail to see the finality of what happened on Golgotha that day. That evil has been judged and thrown in the fire. That evil does not carry any power over us anymore. Time and again, we think we know what evil is, and we are certain that evil still exists in the world. That’s why we inadvertently deny the grace of the new covenant of the cross. We do so because we keep conflating the physical and the spiritual. We see suffering and death and destruction, and we call it evil. But what about the spiritual, because what Jesus did that day was to establish a new spiritual reality, the reality that the realm of the spiritual is ruled by Grace, not by Satan, which means that evil does not carry any power over us, there is no spiritual death anymore, there is only abundant life. 

“For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

But this is not all, because after the battle and the harvest we find ourselves standing face to face with God. After the events on the cross and their backdrop in revelation, we find ourselves standing in the new heaven and the new earth, as a new creation. 

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:1-6)

We somehow see Judgment Day as the end, the end of everything that we ever know. Similar to the language in Revelation, Jesus’s final words on the cross were: “It is done!” As I mentioned, death on the cross or judgment day is the end of the rule of evil. What we struggle to see is that for us it is not the end, but the beginning of a new world order. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states, 

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.”

We are living in the new world of grace and victory of that new creation today. This new understanding changes everything. The crucifixion of Jesus established Grace as the new covenant. We have been justified by the blood of the Lamb. From God’s side of the equation, we are blameless.  We don’t live in the fear of God’s wrath anymore; we live in the joy of His victory. Our job is not to escape this world and wait for a better one, but to live as a new creation within it. 

Are you eagerly awaiting the second coming of Jesus? Hoping to be in the front row for Judgment Day? What exactly are you hoping for? Life without pain, without sorrow? To be near and dear to God? What do you imagine heaven will look like? Are you positive that you will like all these people that are in heaven?

Have we given the crucifixion of Jesus the significance it deserves? How would our lives look like if we truly lived in the security of the sacrifice of Jesus? 

David: There is still one issue I can’t get out of my head. I think everything you’ve said is right, but something continues to bother me—the notion of “out with the old and in with the new,” as though everything changed 2,000 years ago. Yet, we are also told that Christ and the Holy Spirit have been with us from the beginning. I feel like there’s something we still haven’t quite grasped. If we believe that the crucifixion was necessary for this new world to come into being, then we are disenfranchising all the people who came before it, as well as those who never heard of it or of Jesus.

C-J: Lately, I’ve been reading about and experiencing cultural bias. If we take that as the springboard for what Michael has said, this is the history of a tribal community expanding, shaped by the cultural bias of interpretation. However, what David said is very important in terms of God’s creation—that the Holy Spirit was always present from the very beginning. Indigenous people tend to recognize this through creation itself, where guilt and shame are more about the impact on a given community rather than a personal relationship with the divine.

This idea—that culture influences how religion or spiritual relationships are interpreted through ritual and tradition—means that meanings change over time. Cultural bias is always present, but in the spiritual realm, as you said, Michael, you did a wonderful job explaining this. That is what God is always seeking to do—asking us not to focus on the distractions but to seek His face. And what would that look like? Would it look human? Would it be in the eyes of my dog? No. Spirit is this incredible energy of love that transcends everything. It is creation in motion, carried out with love and grace.

Yet, we are stuck here, wanting to be in the right line, making sure our voices are heard the loudest and interpreted clearly through consensus. But a relationship with God is deeply personal. He meets us where we are because we are unable to meet Him where He is. That’s the significance of the curtain being torn in two—the metaphorical barrier to the Holy of Holies was removed. God gave us access to Him anywhere, anytime, whether we are broken or whole. The idea of being without sin or blemish is conceptually transformative. Are we waiting for God, or is He always here?

Sharon: Judgment is nothing to fear; rather, it is a time to celebrate what the robe of righteousness has done for me. When we think about the actual judgment and the Second Coming, I really appreciated your parallel between light and darkness. The light is the Spirit and Christ living through us, while the darkness represents our separation from God. We cannot have the light if we have chosen to remain in darkness.

Michael, thank you very much. It is reassuring to understand that judgment is ultimately about God’s righteousness. For those of us who wear the robe of righteousness, judgment is something to be celebrated, not feared.

Reinhard: I think Judgment Day is the time when believers are fully redeemed. It is, in a way, the official moment when the redeemed are acknowledged or proclaimed. For us, beyond being a celebration, it is a day of redemption—a day of deliverance, whatever we choose to call it. This is, I believe, the official appointed time for judgment to take place.

I also want to comment on the earlier discussion about the spiritual and physical realms. Michael compared Job and Jesus, and the way I see it, Job did not anticipate what was coming. He had no idea when disaster and affliction would strike. But for Job, there was always an element of the spiritual—just as there is for us. That intertwining of physical suffering and spiritual experience is very real. We can see physical destruction with our eyes, but spiritual struggles are often invisible. We cannot always explain what someone is going through spiritually, yet the struggle is there.

Look at Job—even his wife told him to curse God. Yet, in the early stages of his suffering, Job remained firm. His spiritual belief was unwavering at first. But when his friends came and started debating with him, we see him begin to waver. In the early chapters, he was steadfast, but by the end, he started questioning God. That’s when doubt crept in, and perhaps, as some interpret it, a kind of sin entered his heart. But that’s another conversation.

With Jesus, we see something different. He fully anticipated what was coming. Even in His spiritual life, when He walked the earth in human form, the burden was incredibly difficult for Him. Remember when He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane? In Luke 22:42, He says, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but Yours be done.” Even as the Son of God, He struggled. That’s why He prayed so earnestly. But after that prayer, everything was set in motion. Whatever He endured—through the crucifixion—the key was His surrender in that moment of prayer.

I believe it’s the same for us. As Christians, we go through challenges. Life is difficult. We see our relatives or ourselves go through suffering, hardships, and discomfort. And yet, we always try to keep our spiritual life at the forefront—to view our struggles and our future through that lens. Like Job and Jesus, we face trials, but we know that in the end—whether it be the end of our lives or the end of the world—Judgment Day will come. And when that time arrives, we can be assured that our struggles were not in vain. We just have to hold on, place everything in God’s hands, and trust that in the end, we will overcome.

Carolyn: I’d like to ask something because Sharon brought up the robe of righteousness. You reinforced today in your discussion that at the cross, the robe of righteousness was decided upon. God declares, “I will never let you go. You are mine.” Once we have made the decision to wear this robe of righteousness, I still wrestle with the question: What could take it away from us? Could it be our own decision, or a moment of sin?

That leads to another concern—what if someone dies in that moment? I suppose I am trying to diminish the fear and doubt surrounding our relationship with Jesus. I don’t want to believe that it can be lost so easily. I know grace plays a role here, but there is still some ambiguity that haunts me.

C-J: The Bible tells us that Satan roams the earth, seeking to destroy and consume. He is a liar and a thief. I will always choose God’s Word over a lie that seeks to steal the glory we experience through grace. None of us can generate grace within ourselves—it is a gift, bought at a great price. It has always been accessible to us, but sin separated us from it. We lacked an understanding of that relationship.

I believe God’s Word is true and faithful. When we belong to God, we belong to Him completely. I think that’s part of the challenge people face when they struggle in their faith. You’ll hear people say, “I used to believe, but it doesn’t make sense to me anymore.” Well, faith doesn’t always make sense. But if someone chooses to believe that lie because they feel unworthy, God still meets them where they are. He sees them, understands them, and offers restoration. That is what God does—He reveals, and He restores.

Becky from Idaho: Over the past few years, my personal study and relationship with Jesus have grown immensely, especially through the trauma I’ve experienced. That hardship drove me closer to the Lord, and through it, I’ve gained an assurance of salvation that I never had before.

In response to some of the recent comments, I’d like to quote Romans 8:38-39:

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Nothing can pull us away if we choose to keep our hand in Jesus’ hand. Our names are written in the Book of Life, and we don’t need to fear judgment. In fact, the book of John tells us that if we are in Christ, we will not come into judgment—the judgment we have been taught to fear so much. When Jesus looks at my record, He will say, “It doesn’t look like Becky ever sinned,” because His blood has covered it all. Thank you for letting me share. Amen.

David: I have a nitpicky biblical question—something that never really stood out to me until today when Michael mentioned Jesus’ wrenching cry: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” I never paid much attention to the part where people at the crucifixion thought Jesus was calling for Elijah. Is there any significance to that? Why would they think He was calling Elijah instead of God?

C-J: Do you remember when Jesus asked the apostles, “Who do you say that I am?” There was always some debate—was He a prophet? Was He the Messiah? Some questioned, “Didn’t He come from Nazareth? What makes Him so special?”That confusion carried into the moment of the crucifixion.

In Scripture, darkness is often symbolic. Some interpretations suggest that Jesus descended into hell to preach to those who had never heard the message of salvation, redemption, and forgiveness. Many people were confused about who He was. The prophets, like Elijah, spoke of the future, but Christ was saying, “I am here. I am present with you. I am the incarnation.” Some people might have mistaken His cry for a call to Elijah because they were used to prophets foretelling the Messiah rather than recognizing the Messiah in their midst.

We don’t know exactly when Jesus fully realized His purpose. Was it at age 12 when He astounded the Pharisees in the temple with His understanding? Was it earlier? Later? We don’t have all the details, but we do know that by the time He was grown, He fully embraced His mission, despite the oppression of the Roman Empire and its pantheon of gods.

Ultimately, our relationship with God is incredibly personal. Your salvation, your walk, your journey—they will look different from someone else’s. That’s the beauty of having a personal Creator.

Reinhard: It is probably just a matter of interpretation. The words could have sounded like “God” or a shortened form of “Elijah.”

Michael: I was thinking the same thing as Reinhard.

C-J: Well, isn’t Elohim the word for God? If you’re hanging on a cross, 10 or 15 feet in the air, with noise all around you, it could easily be misinterpreted. But the real point is that in that moment of transition—from the temporal to the eternal—Jesus was experiencing something profound.

It’s like when someone has a high fever and later says, “I don’t remember what happened,” or, “I had the strangest dreams.” Jesus was still in the flesh, but He was also seeking what He believed was the ultimate revelation of God. And don’t children cry out to a parent in their distress? “Mommy, help me.” “Daddy, I don’t feel well.” That cry—“Heal me. Make me whole again. Let me recognize Your presence in this moment. Comfort me and bring me into the fullness of Your glory.”—that’s huge.

I’ve sat beside people as they were dying, and it’s fascinating to witness how different people transition from life to death. There’s often a moment when they know they are leaving. It’s a powerful thing to observe.

Don: Carolyn’s question is essentially this: Why do we struggle so much to accept God’s grace? Where does this idea come from that we have to do something—that we must guard against losing the robe of righteousness, that we must protect or defend it?

These are common misconceptions. I think we should be like the centurion at the Cross, who declared, “Truly, this was the Son of God.” When we fully recognize that this is God’s work and not our own, grace becomes much easier to understand.

C-J: I need to make a correction regarding David’s question about Elijah. I initially thought he was referring to the people at the crucifixion who were still questioning: “Is this Eli?” “Is this Elijah the prophet?” “Is this the Christ we’ve been waiting for?” That’s why I responded the way I did.

But I do believe that Jesus knew exactly who He was and what His mission was. If He had been uncertain, He wouldn’t have prayed, “Thy will be done.” If He had wanted to walk away in doubt, that was an option—but He didn’t. He knew. And I think He probably knew from a very young age that He was being prepared for a specific purpose.

Reinhard: Jesus is both divine and human. The agony He experienced when He cried out on the Cross reveals His humanity—He truly felt pain, just as we do.

The difference, of course, is that He had perfect faith because He was the Son of God. That’s why He could perform miracles. But aside from that, He fully experienced human limitations. His suffering during the crucifixion makes it clear that He felt real pain.

At the same time, His life demonstrated that humans can follow God’s commandments. His purpose wasn’t just to save us from our sins—it was also to set an example, to show that it is possible to live a righteous life. He walked as one of us, showing that we, too, can follow God’s law.

Carolyn: One word stands out in my mind when I think about grace: believe. That’s where the question mark appears for me. Somewhere in the Bible, it says, “Help my unbelief.” I think that’s where I need the most help. I want to believe. I don’t want doubt to creep in. But grace steps in and simply gives us this robe of righteousness.

I love the idea of wearing that robe forever, never taking it off. But could something rip it off of me because of my actions? Is that question itself a sign of my unbelief?

David: The only way that robe can come off is if you take it off. Nobody can take it away from you. You would have to remove it yourself—and if you did, you would know it.

Carolyn: So, my sinful nature doesn’t make me take it off entirely, but maybe I step out of it for a moment?

David: I’m pretty sure we’ve all been there. Maybe we still go there from time to time. I think it helps to say the Lord’s Prayer—it serves as a reminder of belief, of acceptance, of the presence of God. And I think that’s enough to keep the robe. You would have to consciously declare your unbelief and throw off the robe in order to lose it. And Carolyn, I don’t think you’re anywhere near that. I don’t think you’ll ever lose that robe.

Don: In Revelation 7, we get a picture of who is wearing the robe, and it describes an innumerable crowd. It says there is a multitude that no one can count. That suggests that an infinite number of people are able to keep the robe on.

As David said, you would have to deliberately and purposefully, with premeditation, abandon the robe in order to lose it. Otherwise, it stays with you—even if you stumble, even if you fall. Imagine someone falling down drunk in a bar—whatever state they’re in, their clothes are still on. The same is true of the robe of righteousness. It becomes part of who we are. It cannot be taken from us; it can only be relinquished by a willful decision.

Michael: What do you think about the crucifixion as Judgment Day—as the final judgment? Are we still waiting for another Second Coming? Or a third, or a fourth? Was the crucifixion the Judgment Day, and were its effects final? What do you think?

C-J: The Bible says that the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple was torn in two. That was the sign that it was done. “It is finished.”

I choose to believe that. But, you know, I don’t have a direct line to God—“Hello, God? It’s just me.” It doesn’t work like that.

For me, I take the Bible literally, but I also see it as spiritually inspired. It was written by human hands, and of course, humans have agendas. But God is pure. It’s the Spirit—the Holy Spirit—that brings revelation. And so, yes, I believe it was done.

Jay: Michael has masterfully set up a comparison between the crucifixion and the prophetic imagery we see in Revelation. Then, David adds another layer by asking: But what about before that?

There’s no doubt that, through our Christian perspective—and I don’t mean this in a negative way—we see the crucifixion as a critical part of the story. It’s a necessary event, something that has to happen, something through which salvation flows, leading to something completed on the other side.

But if we step back a little and look at what Michael is describing in Revelation, what we see in the crucifixion story, and even the parable of the wheat and the tares, we start to see a larger theme. The same theme appears in the sacrificial system before the crucifixion—all of these are describing transitions.

Some of these transitions are dramatic and obvious, while others are more subtle. But they all illustrate a movement—a shift from evil to goodness, from brokenness to forgiveness, from separation to redemption. If we stop seeing them as isolated, discrete events that history must pass through and instead recognize them as patterns of transition, then we start to understand something deeper.

These transitions are not just historical moments—they are continuous processes. They existed before Christ’s crucifixion, and they continue after it. They are not bound by Western or Eastern cultural perspectives. And when we connect this idea to the robe of righteousness we’ve been discussing, we can see that this transition is really about the acknowledgment of God’s will as goodness itself.

The moment I choose to do good, I have stepped into that transition. That transition is not a single, monumental event—it is daily. It is hourly. It is happening every second of every day. Every time I do good unto someone, I make that transition. It is the same transition that Christ made on the cross. It is the same transition symbolized in Revelation, in the image of the lake of fire. It is the recognition that God’s will is goodness, and goodness must be done.

Michael: The reason I wanted to frame it as a final moment is because, while the crucifixion is supposed to be the most important event in Christianity, it’s still not given the weight of a complete transition.

Christians profess that it was a transition, but they don’t seem to apply that transition to their lives. And I don’t understand why. Isn’t that, in a way, a denial of the crucifixion itself? A denial of what Jesus did?

I don’t know—maybe that’s just how I see it. But I don’t understand why the crucifixion isn’t given the full significance it deserves. That’s what I was trying to explore today.

C-J: That’s the essence of grace—there is no weight. Grace is liberty.

We know we are undeserving. We are aware of what crosses our consciousness and what we do in the flesh. We are selfish, self-serving creatures. But grace lifts that weight. The shackles are dropped. Grace gives us the freedom to enter the Holy of Holies and be spiritually whole.

Guilt and shame, however, are woven into the fabric of society. We hear things like, “If you were a better person, God would have blessed you.” Or, “If you worked harder, you would have more.” But that’s not always true. Oppression breeds contempt; prosperity breeds gratitude. We have to wrestle with that reality.

When bad things happen to good people, it’s difficult to reconcile. But God’s grace is sufficient—all the way to the end.

Reinhard: The crucifixion was the climax of Jesus’ mission on earth. When He completed that task—the salvation of humanity—nothing more needed to be done, nor could be done. His work was finished.

Through the shedding of His blood on the cross, salvation was sealed. As Paul wrote, that was it. No further sacrifices—no additional crucifixion or offering—would ever be needed.

Now, we move to the next step: Judgment Day. That judgment is the result of the salvation accomplished by Christ. Those who have been redeemed—who have obeyed God and placed their faith in Him—are part of that salvation. That, I believe, is the central theme of Jesus’ story.

Don: I think part of the answer to Michael’s question is that we struggle to accept the concept of grace. We continue to demand judgment for our behavior and our works.

Until we let go of that mindset, we will cling to a view of judgment that is rooted in fear rather than joy.

Becky from Idaho: As you speak, these verses come to mind—Ephesians 2:8-9:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

That is our robe of righteousness. God has given us a gift. The question is: Do we trust that He will see us through?

The next verse reassures us: “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We can trust Him for salvation, and we can trust Him to work through us to do good. And when we fall, our robe remains intact. We fall toward heaven, and then we rise and keep going.

Don: Hopefully, we’ll pick this up again next week.

* * *