Jesus, the Son of Man is on the Cross outside of Jerusalem. The date is approximately Nisan 14, March 24th, AD34 on Passover. He is one of us who will be the sacrifice for all humanity. The hordes of hell are on the march to this location. Here is Satan’s chance. To prosecute Jesus and convict Him of sin, thereby condemning His soul to hell forever. With the arrival of the “adversary”—Satan the “accuser” (Rev. 12:10), the courtroom of Heaven is moved to the Cross. God the Father is the Judge, Jesus Christ is the defendant, and Satan is the prosecutor. All the elements of a proper trial are in place (Matt. 5:25, Luke 12:58).
God lays all the sins of mankind on His Son. “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6b). The Son of Man “became sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:21). Darkness comes over the whole land. This is the time and the place where the prosecutor rails accusations at Jesus of every sin in the law. You Jesus are a murderer, an adulterer, a covetous man, a liar, filled with pride… and on and on it goes.
Psalm 22 is a prophetic picture of Jesus’ thoughts while on the Cross. For a full description, read the entire chapter. Verses 11-13 say, “Be not far from me; for trouble is near (for sure!); for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round about. They gaped on me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion”.
Jesus was all alone. His enemies had surrounded Him. The “many bulls” are the prosecution team of Satan who came as a mob. Strong “bulls of Bashan” is a reference to the best that he had at his disposal. These are the “princes” of 1 Cor. 2:8. Bashan is the place where the best exists (Duet. 32:14, Isa. 2:13). God compares His hill to that of Bashan (Ps. 68:15). We read about Amos’ prophecy against the evil “kine” or bull of Bashan. God will one day destroy them (Amos 4:1-2). Moses was confronted by the giant, King Og in Duet. 29:7. These “bulls of Bashan” are the very best devilish beings who came to assist Satan with the prosecution.
They “gaped” upon Jesus with their mouths. This is the exact term that is used in Job 16:1-11 when Job’s three friends accused him of all kinds of evils. Basically they said, “these terrible things would not have happened to you if you had not committed all these many sins!” They hurled accusation after accusation to condemn him. Job says the words “teareth me”. It was through these words that Job was “gnashed upon”. They “gaped upon me with their mouth”. These are words of condemnation spoken against him. These men prosecuted Job of sin.
Satan and his cohorts did the same thing to Jesus. As roaring lions, they accused this innocent Son of Man of every evil thing known to man to show that he was an evil person. With His bones out of joint and His hands and feet pierced, the lion devoured Jesus with his mouth. They leveled charge after charge against Jesus Christ; verbally attacking Him. ALL SIN was charged to Him. Satan was displaying to God, and all of creation that the promised Redeemer was being justly condemned!
Psalm 71:10-11 “For my enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together, Saying, God has forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him”.
Jesus was guilty of every single accusation made against Him. He had indeed become sin with my sin and your sin. The sins God placed upon Him became His sins; “mine iniquities” (1 Peter 2:24, Ps. 40:12). They “take hold” of Jesus and are “more than the hairs” on His head. Christ was identified with every sin and sinner… with you and me. For 3 long hours Satan was able to prosecute Jesus because He had become sin with all of the sins of mankind – for all of human history; past-present-and future.
Three hours pass. The darkness subsides. It is finished. Case rested. Christ is found guilty as charged. It was at this time that God the Father forsook His Son.
Satan is so very proud of himself! This Jesus who claims to be the savior of the world will soon be dead and the adversary – the accuser will have won.
The drama continues…
Grace and peace!