Ellen White’s well-known book The Desire of Ages vividly describes Jesus’ death for us. Author Jerry D. Thomas adapted this chapter in simpler language for his book Messiah.

JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS

The news that Jesus had been condemned to die spread quickly, and people of all types flocked toward the place of crucifixion. The priests had agreed not to harass Jesus' disciples when Judas agreed to betray Him, so many disciples and followers of Jesus joined the crowds.

Three crosses had been prepared for Barabbas and two of histhieves who were scheduled to die that day. The cross that had been ready for Barabbas was placed on Jesus' bleeding shoulders. Since the Passover supper, Jesus had had nothing to eat or drink. He had suffered the pain of being betrayed and abandoned. He had been rushed from Annas to Caiaphas to Pilate to Herod and back to Pilate. The night had been filled with events that would test the heart of any human. Jesus hadn't failed. He had taken it all with dignity. But after the second beating with the whip, when the cross was laid on His shoulders, His human body could take no more. Jesus collapsed.

The crowd showed no mercy, taunting Jesus because He couldn't carry the cross. The soldiers lifted the cross up and placed it on Him again. Again Jesus fell to the ground. When it was clear that Jesus could not carry the cross, they began to search for someone who could. No Jew would carry it because this would make them unclean for Passover.

Then Simon, a stranger from Cyrene, met the crowd as he came into the city. Simon, astonished at what he saw, expressed pity for the poor Man. So the soldiers seized him and forced him to carry the cross for Jesus. Simon's sons were followers of Jesus, but Simon was not. Carrying the cross to Calvary turned out to be a real blessing for Simon, because he became a believer in the Messiah that day.

Many women were in the crowd that followed the Savior. Some had brought their sick loved ones to Him to be healed--others had been healed themselves. They were shocked at how the crowd hated Jesus. When Jesus fell under the cross, these women ignored the angry priests and began wailing with sorrow.

Even in His pain and exhaustion, Jesus noticed. He knew that they didn't understand who He was or His sacrifice for them, but He appreciated their sympathy. He said, "'Women of Jerusalem, don't cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children'" (Luke 23:28). He looked ahead to the time when Jerusalem would be destroyed and some of these same women would die along with their children.

In the destruction of Jerusalem Jesus saw a symbol of the end of the world. He said, "'Then people will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" And they will say to the hills, "Cover us!" If they act like this now when life is good, what will happen when bad times come?'" (Luke 23:30, 31). God's anger against sin was now focused on His Son. What would the suffering be like at the end for someone who refused to give up sin?

In the crowd that followed Jesus to Calvary were many who had shouted the hosannas and waved palm branches when He rode into Jerusalem. More than a few who had shouted praises that day with everyone else now joined in screaming, "Crucify him!" When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, His disciples pressed close around Him and felt the honor. Now they followed Him at a distance to escape the humiliation.

When they reached the place of execution, the two thieves fought those who forced them onto their crosses. Jesus did not resist. Mary, His mother, supported by John, had followed her Son's steps to Calvary. She wanted so much to put her hand under His head and comfort Him but this was not permitted. She still held on to the hope that Jesus would save Himself. But in her heart she remembered that He had predicted these events.

As the thieves were bound to their crosses, Mary held her breath. Would the One who could bring the dead to life allow Himself to be crucified? Must she give up her faith that He was the Messiah? She saw His hands stretched out on the rough wood and the hammer raised up. When the spikes were driven through His tender flesh, Mary fainted. The disciples carried her away.

Jesus did not cry out, but great drops of sweat formed on His forehead. No caring hands wiped His face, no words of comfort or sympathy were spoken to sooth His human heart. While the soldiers went about their dreadful work, Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, because they don't know what they are doing."

Jesus didn't call down curses on these soldiers who handled Him so roughly. He didn't call for revenge on the priests and leaders. He only breathed a prayer for their forgiveness because they didn't understand what they were doing. But this ignorance didn't take away their guilt. They could have learned about Jesus and accepted Him as their Savior. Some of them would see their sins, repent, and change. Others, by not repenting, would make it impossible for Jesus' prayer to be answered. But God's plan was being completed--Jesus was earning the right to represent all humans to His Father.

Jesus' prayer for His enemies included every sinner from the beginning of the world to the end of time. All of us are guilty of crucifying the Son of God. But all are offered forgiveness.

As soon as Jesus was nailed to the cross, it was lifted up by strong men and dropped into its hole in the rock--causing intense pain for Jesus. Then Pilate had a board inscribed with the words "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" nailed to the cross above Jesus' head.

This irritated the Jews. But they had claimed Caesar as their true king. The sign declared that whoever else claimed to be king in Israel would be killed. In order to have Jesus killed, the priests had sacrificed their national identity. But they asked Pilate to change the words to "This man said, 'I am the King of the Jews.’"

Pilate, already angry with himself, replied coldly, "What I have written, I have written."

God guided the hand that wrote the inscription. People from many lands were in Jerusalem, and that sign declaring that Jesuswas the Messiah was noticed. Many people went back to the Scriptures to study the prophecies.

Many prophecies were fulfilled as Jesus suffered on the cross. From the Psalms came predictions that the Messiah's hands and feet would be pierced, and that others would gamble for His clothes. The soldiers at the Crucifixion were given the prisoners' clothes to destroy or keep. Since Jesus' cloak was one seamless piece of woven cloth, the soldiers gambled to decide which of them would keep it.

Another prediction from Psalms said that the suffering Messiah would be offered vinegar to drink. Those who suffered death on the cross were allowed to have a drink that would dull the pain. But when Jesus tasted it, He refused to drink it. He needed a clear mind to keep focused on God, His only strength. Clouding His senses would only give Satan an advantage.

The Jewish priests and leaders joined the mob in mocking the dying Savior. "If you are the Son of God, come down from there," they shouted. "If he is the Messiah, let him save himself." Satan and his angels--in human form--were there encouraging the priests and stirring up the mob.

The Father's voice from heaven was silent and no one else spoke up for Jesus. He suffered alone. He heard the priests declare, "If he really is the Messiah, let him come down from the cross. Then we will believe in him." Jesus could have come down from the cross. But because He didn't save Himself, sinners have the hope of forgiveness.

Jesus felt one gleam of comfort on the cross--the prayer of the repentant thief. Both of the men crucified with Jesus had mocked Him at first, and one only became more desperate and defiant as he suffered. But the other was not a hardened criminal. He was less guilty than many who stood beside the cross cursing the Savior. He had seen Jesus and heard Him teach, but had been convinced by the priests not to listen. Trying to quiet his conscience, he plunged into a criminal life until he was arrested and condemned.

On the cross he saw the religious teachers ridicule Jesus. He heard his fellow thief shout, "If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us." Among the crowd he heard many telling stories of what Jesus had done and said. Once again, he felt sure that this was the Messiah. He turned to the other thief and said, "You should fear God! You are getting the same punishment He is." The thieves were beyond fearing humans, but one of them realized that there was a God to fear. To the other thief he said, "We are getting what we deserve, but this Man has done nothing wrong."

When he was condemned for his crime, the thief had given up all hope. But now strange, gentle thoughts were stirring in his mind. The Holy Spirit led his thinking step by step until it all made sense to him. In spite of being mocked and hanging on a cross, he saw Jesus as the Lamb of God. Hope mingled with the pain in his voice as he said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."

Quickly the answer came in a voice full of love and power: "Today I tell you the truth--you will be with Me in paradise."

Jesus had listened with a longing heart for some words of faith from His disciples. Instead He had only heard sad doubts: "We believed that He was the One who would save Israel." The dying thief's words of faith encouraged Jesus when no one else would even acknowledge Him.

Those words of faith also got the attention of bystanders. The soldiers gambling over Jesus' clothes stopped to listen. As Jesus spoke His promise, a ray of living light pierced the dark cloud that seemed to cover the cross. Jesus, hanging there in shame, was bathed in glory. Heaven recognized Him as the Bearer of sin. Humans could strip Him of His clothing, but they could not take His power to forgive sins and save all who came to God through Him.

Jesus did not promise that the thief would be with Him in paradise that same day. He Himself did not go to heaven that day. On the morning of the Resurrection, He said, "I have not yet gone up to My Father." But the promise was given "today"--right then as He hung dying on the cross--and the forgiven thief will be with Jesus in heaven.

Jesus was placed in the middle between the two thieves at the request of the priests to show that He was the worst of the criminals. But in the same way, His cross was placed in the middle of a dying world trapped in sin. And His words of forgiveness to the thief are a light that shines hope to the farthest parts of the world. During His suffering, Jesus spoke as a prophet to the women of Jerusalem. As a priest or representative, He asked His Father to forgive His murderers. As the Savior, He forgave the sins of a repentant thief.

Mary, His mother, returned to the foot of the cross, supported by John. She couldn't bear to be away from her Son, and John, knowing that the end was near, brought her back. Looking into her grief-filled eyes, Jesus said, "Dear woman, here is your son." Then He said to John, "Here is your mother."

John understood and accepted the responsibility. From that moment he cared for Mary in his own home. Jesus had no money to leave for His mother's care, but He gave her what she needed most--a friend who loved her because she loved Jesus. John was greatly blessed as well--Mary was a constant reminder of his beloved Master. Those who follow Jesus will never leave their parents without care or respect.

Now the Lord of glory was near death, feeling agony of both body and soul. It wasn't the fear of death or the pain of the cross that caused His suffering. It was a sense of the horrible wickedness of sin. Jesus saw how few humans would be willing to break their addiction to it. Without help from God, all humans would be exterminated.

The guilt of every human since Adam was placed on Jesus--our Substitute--and it pressed heavily on His heart. All of His life, Jesus had been sharing the good news of the Father's forgiving love. But now with this terrible weight of sin on Him, He could not see the Father's face. This tore at His heart in a way that humans will never fully understand. The agony was so overwhelming that He hardly felt the physical pain.

Satan pressed Jesus' heart with fierce temptations. All hope seemed to be gone that He would rise from the grave or that the Father would accept His sacrifice. Jesus felt the anguish a sinner will feel when no One pleads for mercy for the guilty. It was this sense of sin--the sense that the Father's anger was focused on Him as the one taking the place of sinful humans--that broke His heart.

The sun refused to look on this awful scene. Its bright rays had been lighting the earth at noon when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. The whole land was dark until three o'clock in the afternoon. This unnatural darkness was as deep as midnight without moon or stars. It was a miraculous sign given by God to strengthen our faith.

God and the holy angels were there beside the cross, hidden in the thick darkness. The Father was with His Son. But His presence had to be hidden. In that terrible hour, Jesus could not be comforted by His Father's presence.

God created the darkness to cover the last human suffering of His Son. All who had seen Jesus suffer that day had been convicted of His divinity. His long hours of torture had been accompanied by the stares and jeers of the mob. Now, mercifully, God hid Him.

When the darkness came, an unexplainable terror came over the crowd gathered around the cross. The cursing and shouting stopped. Brilliant lightning occasionally flashed through the clouds and revealed the crucified Savior. Priests, leaders, soldiers, and the mob thought their payback was coming. Some whispered that Jesus would now come down from the cross.

At three o'clock the darkness lifted from the crowd but still covered Jesus. No one could see through the gloom that shrouded His suffering soul. But Jesus' voice was heard crying," 'My God, my God, why have you rejected me?'" (Matthew 27:46).

Many voices suggested that Jesus was being punished for claiming to be God. Many of His followers who heard His despairing cry gave up all hope. If God had rejected Jesus, in what could His followers trust?

Then the darkness lifted and Jesus revived enough to feel the physical pain. He said, "I am thirsty." One of the Roman soldiers felt pity and offered Jesus a sponge soaked in vinegar. But the priests mocked Jesus again. They misinterpreted Jesus' cry to mean that He was calling for the prophet Elijah. They refused to relieve His thirst. "No," they said, "we want to see if Elijah will come and save him."

The perfect Son of God hung on the cross, His skin slashed by whips. His hands that had so often reached out to bless others were nailed to the wooden boards. His feet, so tireless on missions of love, were spiked to the beam. His royal head was pierced by the crown of thorns; His trembling lips twisted in a cry of pain.

All that He suffered--the blood that dripped from His head, His hands, and His feet, the agony that tore His body with every breath, and the unspeakable anguish in His heart from being separated from His Father--speaks to each of us, saying, "For you the Son of God agrees to carry this guilt; for you He battles death and wins; for you He opens the gates of heaven; for you He offers Himself as a sacrifice. All of this He does because of His love for you."

Suddenly the darkness lifted from the cross. In a voice that seemed to ring through all creation like a trumpet, Jesus cried, "It is finished. Father, I give You My life." A light surrounded the cross and the Savior's face shone like the glory of the sun. Then He bowed His head and died.

In the darkness, Jesus drank the cup of human suffering and sin. During those dreadful hours, He was sustained by what He had known all His life. By faith, He rested in His Father's love even though He could no longer feel it. As He surrendered His life to God, the sense of having lost His Father's love vanished. By faith, Jesus won the battle.

Now darkness covered the land again and there was a violent earthquake. In the surrounding mountains, rocks split into pieces and crashed to the plains below. Graves were ripped open and the dead were thrown out. Priests, soldiers, and the others in the crowd fell to the ground in fear.

The moment Jesus cried, "It is finished," was the time of the evening sacrifice at the temple. The lamb that represented the Messiah had been brought in to be killed. The priest stood with the knife in his hand as the people watched. Then the ground trembled, because the Lord Himself was approaching. With a loud ripping sound, the inner curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom. People stared right into the place that was once filled with the presence of God. The Most Holy Place of the temple was no longer sacred.

There was terror and confusion everywhere. The knife fell from the priest's suddenly numb hand and the lamb escaped. The symbolic intersected with reality. The great sacrifice had been made. A new, living path to salvation was available to everyone. Jesus would now become our Priest, our Representative in heaven.

Taken from Messiah, by Jerry D. Thomas, copyright © Pacific Press Publishing Association, Nampa, Idaho. All rights reserved. Used by permission.