The word “Calvary” appears just once in the New King James Bible, in Luke chapter 23: “And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him . . . ” (verse 33). It was the site of Jesus’ gruesome death—written as “Golgotha” in the Aramaic and appearing this way in Matthew, Mark, and John. It means “skull” or “Place of a Skull.”
For many, the word “Calvary” evokes a shudder: fear of the ground where God’s blood was spilled, where sin was punished. Yet Calvary remains the pinnacle of the Gospel, the good news of salvation. On the cross, sin was judged and grace was revealed. Hope was secured.
What did that mean for Jesus? And what does it mean for you?
Uncited quotes in the following paragraphs were taken from The Desire of Ages, pp. 741–755. Ellen G. White wrote The Desire of Ages to “set forth Jesus Christ as the one in whom every longing may be satisfied” (p. 17). Learn more about White and her writings here!
When Jesus’ killers led him to Calvary, they forced him outside the walls of Jerusalem, God’s holy city.
“‘That He might sanctify the people with His own blood,’ Christ ‘suffered without the gate.’ Hebrews 13:12. For transgression of the law of God, Adam and Eve were banished from Eden. Christ, our substitute, was to suffer without the boundaries of Jerusalem. He died outside the gate, where felons and murderers were executed. Full of significance are the words, ‘Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.’ Galatians 3:13.”
Jesus carried the guilt of sin away from God’s people “outside the camp” (Leviticus 16:27) to atone for the curse brought by Adam and Eve breaking God’s law. He was then nailed to the cross and crucified.
“Upon Christ as our substitute and surety was laid the iniquity of us all. He was counted a transgressor, that He might redeem us from the condemnation of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart. The wrath of God against sin, the terrible manifestation of His displeasure because of iniquity, filled the soul of His Son with consternation. All His life Christ had been publishing to a fallen world the good news of the Father’s mercy and pardoning love. Salvation for the chief of sinners was His theme. But now with the terrible weight of guilt He bears, He cannot see the Father’s reconciling face. The withdrawal of the divine countenance from the Saviour in this hour of supreme anguish pierced His heart with a sorrow that can never be fully understood by man. So great was this agony that His physical pain was hardly felt.”
This is why Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” as He died (Matthew 27:46) in perhaps the most heartwrenching of His seven statements on the cross.
“Satan with his fierce temptations wrung the heart of Jesus. The Savior could not see through the portals of the tomb. Hope did not present to Him His coming forth from the grave a conqueror or tell Him of the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice. He feared that sin was so offensive to God that Their separation was to be eternal. Christ felt the anguish which the sinner will feel when mercy shall no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father’s wrath upon Him as man’s substitute, that made the cup He drank so bitter, and broke the heart of the Son of God.”
When you feel sinful, broken, and unforgivable, remember that Jesus, carrying the sins of every human, felt that same way. Infinityfold. And because He felt it, you can be free of sin, a new creation, forgiven.
Because on Calvary:
“The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated with stripes; those hands so often reached out in blessing, nailed to the wooden bars; those feet so tireless on ministries of love, spiked to the tree; that royal head pierced by the crown of thorns; those quivering lips shaped to the cry of woe. And all that He endured—the blood drops that flowed from His head, His hands, His feet, the agony that racked His frame, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father’s face—speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, ‘It is for thee that the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for thee He spoils the domain of death, and opens the gates of Paradise. He who stilled the angry waves and walked the foam-capped billows, who made devils tremble and disease flee, who opened blind eyes and called forth the dead to life,—offers Himself upon the cross as a sacrifice, and this from love to thee. He, the Sin Bearer, endures the wrath of divine justice, and for thy sake becomes sin itself.'”
Let’s break it down.
What Happened On Calvary?
God proved His love for you.
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.” (1 John 3:16a)
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ” (Romans 5:8)
God became sin for you.
“ . . . we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20–21)
God justified you.
“Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.” (Romans 5:9)
God reconciled you to Himself.
“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel . . . ” (Colossians 1:21–23)
“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” (Romans 5:10)
God saved you, redeemed you. He bought you back, freeing you from the bondage of sin.
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison.” (1 Peter 3:18–19)
“And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.’ ” (Revelation 5:9)
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
What is grace, really? Learn more here!
You were crucified, too.
“For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” (Romans 6:5–7)
And What Happened Because of Calvary?
Your sin is washed away.
“But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Hebrews 9:26b)
“And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” (Revelation 1:5)
You can consider yourself dead to sin.
“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:11)
You are no longer condemned.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)
You are healed.
“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
Satan lost, freeing you from fear.
“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14–15)
You are saved from the second (the eternal) death.
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)
“Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)
Christ Is the Gospel
We must remember Paul’s statement in the first chapter of Colossians: we are reconciled to God, presented blameless, if we are “not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (verse 23). What is that hope? What is that Gospel? And how can we keep it close? White writes the answers clearly:
“Hanging upon the cross, Christ was the gospel. Now we have a message, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.’ [John 1:29.] Will not our church members keep their eyes fixed on a crucified and risen Saviour, in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered? This is our message, our argument, our doctrine, our warning to the impenitent, our encouragement for the sorrowing, the hope for every believer.” (Letters and Manuscripts, Vol. 13, Manuscript 49, 1898, par. 41)
And when you know the personified Gospel personally, you cannot help but share Him.
“Christ crucified—talk it, pray it, sing it, and it will break and win hearts. This is the power and wisdom of God to gather souls for Christ.” (Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, p. 67)
Related Articles:
- Sinai and Calvary: The Riven Rock of Law and Grace
- The Cross: At the Center of Controversy and Atonement
- The Significance of the Cross for Time and Eternity
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If you enjoyed learning about the impact of Calvary, dive deeper with this sermon by Billy Graham and The Cross and Its Shadow, a book about how the Old Testament’s sacrificial system pointed to Jesus’ sacrifice.
Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
