A Time of Rememberance

I would like to take a few moments to give you a written visual. So if I may be a little direct here…

I would like you to take a minute to do something for me. Find something with a little point on it. a safety pin, a nail, even the tip of a fork. OK, once you have that in your possession I would like you to take the point and apply some pressure to the inside, soft part of your wrist. Now I am not talking self-mutilation, just a little pressure till it starts to hurt. Let your natural instincts take over and control the situation. Of course, when you start to feel the pain you’re going to pull it away. Well I am here to remind you that….

Jesus DIDN’T HAVE that option.

From the moment Jesus and his disciples left that upper room and He entered the garden, He knew it was time to go the rest of the way ALONE. After He entered the garden and prayed for the “cup to be removed” he had found His disciples sleeping on numerous occasions.

When the troops had arrived His disciples, who had been so confident only hours before, had ran and left Him alone. It became a time of true sadness and loneliness for our Lord. betrayed, abandoned by those He loved. (has anyone ever felt this way? Our Lord has been through it.)

First you must know and understand, that the way they arrested Jesus in the middle of the night was wrong and illegal.

When He had been taken and brought before the leaders of the church, He had been beaten, mocked and spit upon as a criminal. Then He was dragged off again, beaten, and mocked. Adding a crown of thorns on His head. You must understand that these thorns were long and sharp and dug into the flesh, causing pain and blood to trickle down his face.

When He finally reached Pontius Pilate the second time, he had been beaten repeatedly, blood and bruises covered His body. After Pilate contended to the people and allowed them to do as they wished and crucify our Lord, He was once again taken and beaten. Only this time they added the whip with 39 lashes. That would have been bad enough, but this was no ordinary whip. This one had 6 lashes and to each was attached sharp bone and metal. each swing if the whip had caused His flesh to rip. His skin bloody and soft as paper.

When they were finished with Him they

placed the wooden cross over his shoulders and on His back. Again, know and understand, this was not clean, smooth shaved wood. It was rough and splintery, so with every step the wood would jump and rubbed across His already bruised, shredded, bloody back and shoulders, where the splinters would dig into open wounds. each step He took became more agonizing. But yet, even with his tired weak, hunger filled body, our Lord continued to move forward. He stumbled, He fell, but He continued moving on to the place to fulfill His mission. His mission to “save a wretch like me… to save you..to save us.”

When He finally arrived at Golgatha, they stripped Him of His clothing and laid Him on the cross, where a couple soldiers pulled and stretched out His arm while a third placed a point of a nail against His wrist and raised a mallet….

I can imagine at this point, standing at the threshold of heaven, all the legions of angels watching, swords ready, waiting for the word of God to come to go save His son, their Lord. One eye on Jesus and that mallet, the other toward the throne room of God. Waiting

waiting…But the word never came, God turned His head. He had planned this. It must happen. To save His children, He must give up one. blood must be shed, his blood…..

The mallet fell, the nail entered into the soft, fleshy part of our Saviors wrist. blood spilled. The hammer continued til the nail was flush with the wrist. then they repeated on the other arm. then one foot over the other and another nail. It is humanly impossible to describe the pain our Lord felt on His body, in His heart. Abandoned. Alone. dying for those who still didn’t know Him, hated Him.

The cross was raised, and pulled til the base of it fell into a hole, causing the already damaged body to jump and drop, His bare back, again rubbing against the splintery wood and pressure to be applied to the wounds on his wrist and feet from the deeply embedded nails.

The way a person dies on the cross is truly a slow, painful process. While on the cross your body drops from the weight and causes your middle section to bunch up and your lungs can’t distribute air properly and you basically begin to suffocate. When a person on the cross begins to feel this happening, they use their legs to push themselves up so they can breath, which in turn causes more pain to the nailed hands and feet.

Our Lord, from the time of arrest, went through more than anyone should ever have to. But it was all for a purpose. Something amazing happened on that cross..

Every sin, “EVERY SIN” of mine, of yours, was placed upon Jesus. As a brother once said, “so Jesus could take a punishment He didn’t deserve, so we wouldn’t have to take a punishment we couldn’t handle.” But when those sins were placed upon Him, they were so ugly, so dirty and stunk so much, that God the Father had to turn away and for the first time since the beginning, Jesus had lost contact with the Father and He cried. HE CRIED “God why have you forsaken me?” and I would’ve bet that it broke the Fathers heart to do this, and turn away from His son. A son He loves. A son who was perfect. Who He adored. But it would have been a bet I would’ve lost. Because according to Isaiah 53:10, it says, “that it PLEASED the Lord to bruise Him…

It pleased the Lord to do this to a son He loves? A son who loves and believes in Him? Who lived completely for Him? Yes, it pleased Him, so He could save those, who today, still refuses to give Him just a little more time. A little more effort.

Let me say something I have heard and have said myself before, If I was in a room full of people and my daughter sat in a chair, and God forbid a fire broke out, or the ceiling started to cave in. Well I will pray for all in the room and hope I see them out safely on the sidewalk. But I wouldn’t, I couldn’t risk MY OWN childs life for anyone. That doesn’t mean I don’t care. BUT my baby?? BUT it is written, “it PLEASED the Lord to bruise Him” for you, for all of us.

I am NOT worth it. I have failed my Lord so many times……

When Jesus raised His head that day on the cross, and yelled “it is finished!!” I think of the day Jesus called out “Lazarus, come forth!”

When Jesus called out then bowed his head in death and that veil ripped in two, I believe that was God the father calling out to the world “my children come forth! Though you were dead, yet SHALL YOU LIVE!!”