Today I want to share a message that falls in line with the videos we have been watching together from the past couple of days--but we are going to go into detail about an aspect of "the cross" that you most likely have never heard before. If you have been studying your Bibles', then you know certain bits of information given in the Word of God that Jesus' life and death were quite extraordinary. Our precious Lord Jesus was so humble that HE would often drop to HIS knees and wash peoples' feet if they needed HIM to, even if it left blood on Jesus' hands. Can you ever imagine what a wonderful friend HE must have been? OH DO I LOVE HIM SO!!!
If you have studied the teachings of Jesus in the Bible and learned about the blood of Jesus, then you know "Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins." You hear that everywhere. Most people in the world have heard that phrase at some point in their lives'. Now what I want to do right now is reveal to you just how violent HIS death was. Jesus shed HIS blood and became the sacrifice that all of us needed in order for us to be living life today.
Have you ever been in school, or at the beach, or maybe out at a club--and seen somebody get beat up by a bigger guy. Let's say one of the nerds in school got punched in the face by a bully... while everyone just stood around and watched. We have all been through that in life. All we could think was, "I probably should do something but I don't really want to rock the boat." Not to mention you didn't want to get beat up either. lol It was that way when people were watching Jesus shed His blood too. People of Jewish descent did not want want to speak up for Him because they were afraid of being beaten up as well.
Remember how you felt sorry for the kid that got beat up? You saw his face bloodied, and you knew he was in pain, but you figured that once he got home and put some ice on his face... that he would be okay.
Now I want you to picture this: The Biblical and Historical teachings of Jesus reveal to us that Jesus Christ, God's only Son, the bridge between God and Man was beaten up and bloodied so badly by the Romans, "that you could not tell that Jesus Christ was a human being any more." STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING THIS INSTANT AND PICTURE THIS IN THE FOREFRONT OF YOUR MIND. CAN YOU CONCEIVE IT? NO!!! THE HUMAN MIND CANNOT CONCEIVE HOW BRUTAL THE LASHINGS ACROSS HIS BACK WERE AND HOW THEY DISFIGURED HIS HUMAN FLESH. JESUS LOOKED LIKE A BLOODY DEFORMED ANIMAL. BLOOD WAS POURING OUT OF EVERY WOUND EVEN BEFORE JESUS GOT TO THE CROSS THAT HE WAS CRUCIFIED ON. JESUS WAS WHIPPED AND BEATEN WITH WHIPS AND CHAINS WITH SPIKED RAZOR-SHARP HEADS, ALONG WITH GROUPS OF PEOPLE THROWING ROCKS AT HIM. THEN THEY RIPPED OFF JESUS' ROBE AS HIS FLESH WOUNDS STUCK TO IT IN THE SAME WAY YOU RIP OFF A BANDAGE FULL OF BLOOD THAT IS COVERING A LACERATION. ARE TEARS BEGINNING TO FLOW DOWN YOUR FACE. GOOD!!! THEY SHOULD BE. (The pic above does not accurately depict what Jesus' blood-covered body of destruction looked like when Jesus was carrying his cross) This was as far as the human mind could go in describing the bloody event... As seen from the movie "The Passion of the Christ," a movie all about Jesus' life leading up to His crucifixion.
They bashed Jesus' bloody head in, ripped open Jesus' bloody back, they spit on Jesus and they mocked Jesus out loud. Then they took what the Bible calls "a crown of thorns" (thick and razor sharp) and stuck it into Jesus' open flesh all around the top of his bloody head, deep into Jesus' bloody scalp.
When a man was crucified in Biblical times, he was required to carry his cross with him in order for people to shame him. After Jesus experienced all of the previous traumas, they knocked Jesus down so hard that his bloody head hit the back of his cross and he almost went blind. Then they made Jesus get up, all the while shouting obscenities and calling Jesus the "King of the Jews." Keep in mind that a cross you were about to be hung on did not weigh what you are thinking. It was so heavy in relation to the man that he had to drag it at a snail's pace just to get it up the hill while he was dripping blood.
When the Romans finally got Jesus' bloody body up the hill and ready to lift him up on the cross to be crucified, someone took a spear and crushed Jesus' ribs ripping a huge bloody chunk of skin off of his body. Then Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refused to drink. Simon was ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus was quickly thrown backward with His bloody shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire felt for the depression at the front of the wrist. He then drove a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through Jesus' wrist and deep into the wood as blood began pouring out. Quickly, he moved to the other side and repeated the action being careful not to pull Jesus' arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum was then lifted into place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews" was nailed in place. Blood began to pour out of Jesus' hands.
The left foot of Jesus then pressed backward against the right foot of Jesus, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail was driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed with blood beginning to pour out from his feet. Jesus was now crucified. As Jesus slowly sagged down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating pain shot through his bloody fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain--with the nails in the writs putting pressure on the median nerves. As Jesus pushed Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He placed His full weight on the nail through His bloody feet. Again there was the searing agony of the nail tearing through Jesus' nerves between the metatarsal bones of Jesus' feet.
At this point, as the arms fatigued, great waves of cramps swept over Jesus' muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps came the inability for Jesus to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles were paralyzed and the intercostal muscles were unable to act. Air was drawn into the lungs, but because of loss of blood they could not be exhaled.
Then Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short gasp of breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, Jesus is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded:
The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for Jesus' seamless garment, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."
The second, to the penitent thief, "Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise."
The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John -- the beloved Apostle -- he said, "Behold thy mother." Then, looking to Jesus' mother Mary, "Woman behold thy son."
The fourth cry was from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, "My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?"
Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, exasperating loss of blood, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as Jesus moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins...A terrible crushing pain deep in Jesus' chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart so the blood will not flow.
One remembers again the 22nd Psalm, the 14th verse: "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels."
It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level; the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.
Jesus gasps His fifth cry, "I thirst."
One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: "My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou has brought me into the dust of death."
A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to Jesus' lips. He apparently doesn't take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the lack of blood and the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out Jesus' sixth words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, "It is finished."
His mission of atonement has completed. Finally Jesus can allow his body to die.
With one last surge of strength, Jesus once again presses His torn bloody feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last attempt to cry, "Father! Into thy hands I commit my spirit.
As you have read this, and I hope tears are absolutely gushing like a river down the front of your face, I want you to realize the time-line of all of this. First of all, Jesus was nailed to the cross at approximately 9:00 in the morning. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HE LOVES YOU? Your savior loved you so much that he held on struggling to breathe, while the blood of Jesus poured out of his every wound for so long that Jesus did not give up his last breath until 3:30 in the afternoon!!!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son; that whosoever would believeth in him would not perish (die) but have everlasting life."-John 3:16
I hope this verse will take on new meaning for you now. Jesus did not just die for you, he suffered the most horrific blood curdling death of any man in history. God had to kill his very own son to take the place of what you did last night. When you lied to your mom last night... you should of had to DIE for it. When you got drunk and had sex with your neighbor last night... you should of had to DIE for it. When you cheated on your husband or wife last night... you should of had to DIE for it.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the father except through me." Today's lesson has hopefully taught you why. When you understand the sacrifice, then you see for yourself why there is SO MUCH POWER IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS!!! WATERED-DOWN, ITCHING EARS, AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY HAS FORGOTTEN THE POINT OF THE CROSS IN THE FIRST PLACE. Repent! Jesus loves you! That is why there is
so much power in the blood of Jesus.
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