The Truth of The Cross
If you have found your way to the page for whatever reason, I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide you... Please read this page out loud, it will help you...
I recall in my childhood many many different times I was exposed to the story of the cross... the movies on T.V around the Easter Celebration, and mainly, the stained glass windows of our chruch. It seemed a moment in time but, it was beyond capture on the celluloid or on the glass. I now understand why...
In Isaiah 53, the prophet gives us all the necessary details to understand what truly took place in the story of the cross, the Gospels confirm this rendition. One thing I found that helped me to comprehend the magnitude of these horrific details, was the history of the people and the times. Praise the Lord! the Holy Spirit bears witness within us to the truth...
Here is Isaiah 53 taken from the Today's Good News Bible, it is an easy English Translation.
Isaiah 52:13 The Lord says, "My servant will succeed in his task; he will be highly honored. 14 Many people were shocked when they saw him; he was so disfigured that he hardly looked human. 15 But now many nations will marvel at him, and kings will be speechless with amazement. They will see and understand something they had never known." 53:1 The people reply, "Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the Lord's hand in this? 2 It was the will of the Lord that his servant grow like a plant taking root in dry ground. He had no dignity or beauty to make us take notice of him. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing that would draw us to him. 3 We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him — we ignored him as if he were nothing. 4 "But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God. 5 But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. 6 All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the Lord made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved. 7 "He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word. 8 He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. He was put to death for the sins of our people. 9 He was placed in a grave with those who are evil, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie." 10 The Lord says, "It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed. 11 After a life of suffering, he will again have joy; he will know that he did not suffer in vain. My devoted servant, with whom I am pleased, will bear the punishment of many and for his sake I will forgive them. 12 And so I will give him a place of honor, a place among the great and powerful. He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven."
There is also this verse that helps us to understand why Jesus had to be hung on a cross, which was made of wood that began as a tree before it was cut and shaped...
Galatians 3:13 But by becoming a curse for us Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the scripture says, "Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's curse." 14 Christ did this in order that the blessing which God promised to Abraham might be given to the Gentiles by means of Christ Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the Spirit promised by God.
Let us now take a look at all that is here...
Jesus is taken, a lamb innocent of any wrong doing, He has done nothing wrong in the eyes of the law or God, He is examined prior to the Passover and found to be without fault, spot or blemish, He is the perfect Sacrifice. He is handed over to men that are of evil hearts, they care not for the things of God or God, but what they can gain themselves through the things of God.
Jesus is taken away like a prisoner, beaten, but the beatings are not what you or I would endure in the best enemy camp if we were prisioners today...
He is punched and spit upon, the Romans soldiers, the largest and strongest of the best, take their fists and smash them into His face, His head and His body, not once or twice... this is completed when each Soldier has had a turn. Jesus is so beaten, tired and bloody, that He can not stand up, a "pummel stand" is placed under His chin to hold Him up so they can continue till ALL have had a turn. They place a cloak over His head and beat Him saying, "if you are the Messiah, the Son of the most high God, tell us who hit you and it will be proof for us and we will let you go." He is mocked and ridiculed, there is nothing recognizable about His face, nothing desirable about Him now... They grab His beard and tear patches of it from His face...
Then He is taken, held down to be whipped. Now the whip is not your regular leather whip, no, the Romans discovered you could inflict far more damage if you placed bones, metal objects and other sharp objects in the leather straps and the Jewish discovered that you could whip a man 39 times with a leather whip with 3 straps, thus keeping him on the threshold of death, for if they whipped him 40, they would die...
Jesus was whipped 39 times with a Roman whip, His spine, His intestines, His kidneys and His rib cage exposed and bleeding, bearly alive...
Then He is draped in a purple cloak (THE COLOR OF ROYALTY) and mocked as the King of the Jews by the soldiers, purple being the color of royalty, and a crown of 3 inch thorns is driven into His skull...
He is made to bear the cross, He is to carry it through the streets of the city to the "Place of the Skull", Calvary Hill... He falls time and time again, and another is given the task to carry the burden the rest of the way...
Consider the walk in the heat of the day, the cape is ripped from the back of Christ, and the blood begins to flow again from His now gaping wounds, the throbbing, the pain must have been unbearable...
He is laid on a cross and 6 inch spikes are driven into His hands and feet, He clings to life still, it is not finished yet...
The soldiers cast lots like a lottery for His undergarments and He is offered wine vinegar on a stake, it would act as a pain killer and probably only numbs the raw edge of the excruciating pain as every joint in His body is being pulled apart and it is becoming more difficult to breath from the positioning of the arms. BUT, He refuses it when it was offered, He must experience the fullnesss of the suffering for our sake.
Most on the cross would sufficate from this position, others would have their legs broken and die in the same manner of suffication as they could no longer be able to hold up the pressure of their body.
It must have seemed an eternity on the cross, with Mary and the few assembled at His feet weeping for Jesus. He could have cried out and a legion of angels would have come to Him and taken Him down off the cross and to heaven... but, He does not. Instead... He cries out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God had to, after all, Jesus had to bear the sins of the world, He became our sins and God could not look upon Him. And in Mark we have the conclusion of His death... He says, "I thirst", the Roman Soldiers place a sponge of watered down wine on a stick and offer it up to Him, fulfilling what the Psalmists prophesied, and it is finished...
Psalms 69:21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Mark 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
A soldier peirced His side and out came the water and the blood, when a person's heart ruptures or breaks that is what will happen, Jesus died of a broken heart before they had pierced His side...
It broke from the love within, it is was so great for all of us... And the New Covenant was birthed. As did Eve come from the side of Adam... When a baby is born in the natural, firs the water breaks, then there is blood with the bithing of the child. Jesus birthed the New Covenant from His side.
Jesus took the place of suffering for us all, beaten, mocked, abused, and murdered, yet when He was born, that was His purpose, when He was going through the last 3 to 3 1/2 years of His life, He knew what was awaiting Him, the cross. He went willingly, innocently and without anger or remorse, like a lamb being lead to the slaughter. He paid the price for all of us, He made the way straight for the gates of Heaven. When He was on the cross, He gave forgiveness even as they parted His garments...
Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
He paid the ultimate sacrifice, His life for ours and He never cried out, He didn't have to do it, but He choose to do it for you, me and the entire world.
This is why it is called the "free gift" that all you need is to accept what was done, that you can not "do" anything in your own strength to please God or get close to Him. Jesus did it all, He bridged the gap that existed since the garden of Eden & the fall of man from the presence of God.
He already paid the price for entry into the kingdom of God, the rest is up to you...
If you feel tears, let them go, they are the tears of repentance, the baptism that John the baptist called us all to, and if you feel to talk to God, open your mouth an dpray what God has filled your mouth with, and trust that He will provide you with the words. He will.
Don't wait to accept the gift, don't think, I am a good person, I will or should go to heaven, be sure where you will spend eternity and don't wait till the day BEFORE you die to accept Jesus Christ into your heart and make Him the Lord of your life.
You do not need a special prayer, trust the Lord, the Holy Spirit will guide you.
God Bless You
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