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His
Crucifixion
I read about a small boy
who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one
day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless he arrived
later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. At dinner
that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass
of water. He looked at his father's full plate and then at his father, but his
father remained silent. The boy was crushed.
The father waited for the
full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy's plate and placed it in
front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front
of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said,
"All my life I've known what God is like by what my father did that
night." ── J. Allan Peterson.
When Lincoln's body was
brought from Washington to Illinois, it passed through Albany and it was
carried through the street. They say a black woman stood upon the curb and
lifted her little son as far as she could reach above the heads of the crowd
and was heard to say to him, "Take a long look, honey. He died for
you". So, if I could, I would lift up your spirit to see Calvary. Take a
long look, He died for you. ── Craig Glickman, Knowing Christ,
p. 89.
For family devotions,
Martin Luther once read the account of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar in
Genesis 22. His wife, Katie, said, "I do not believe it. God would not
have treated his son like that!" "But, Katie," Luther replied, "He
did." ── W. Wiersbe, The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching &
Preachers, p. 191.
She was only a tiny girl,
unused to traveling, and it happened that in the course of the day, her train
crossed two branches of a river and several wide streams. The water awakened
doubts and fears in the child. She did not understand how it could be safe to
cross. As they drew near the river, however, she saw a bridge across a body of
water. Two or three times the same thing happened: finally, the child leaned
back and relaxed. "Somebody has put bridges for us all the way!" she
sighed with relief.── Source Unknown.
If you were to look at
Rembrandt's painting of The Three Crosses, your attention would be drawn first
to the center cross on which Jesus died. Then as you would look at the crowd
gathered around the foot of that cross, you'd be impressed by the various
facial expressions and actions of the people involved in the awful crime of
crucifying the Son of God. Finally, your eyes would drift to the edge of the
painting and catch sight of another figure, almost hidden in the shadows. Art
critics say this is a representation of Rembrandt himself, for he recognized
that by his sins he helped nail Jesus to the cross.── Source Unknown.
During the Middle Ages
there was a popular story which circulated about Martin of Tours, the saint for
whom Martin Luther was named. It was said that Satan once appeared to St Martin
in the guise of the Savior himself. St. Martin was ready to fall to his feet
and worship this resplendent being of glory and light. Then, suddenly, he
looked up into the palms of his hands and asked, "Where are the nail
prints?" Whereupon the apparition vanished.── Source Unknown.
In his book Written in
Blood, Robert Coleman tells the story of a little boy whose sister needed a
blood transfusion. The doctor explained that she had the same disease the boy
had recovered from two years earlier. Her only chance for recovery was a
transfusion from someone who had previously conquered the disease. Since the
two children had the same rare blood type, the boy was the ideal donor.
"Would you give your
blood to Mary?" the doctor asked. Johnny hesitated. His lower lip started
to tremble. Then he smiled and said, "Sure, for my sister." Soon the
two children were wheeled into the hospital room--Mary, pale and thin; Johnny,
robust and healthy. Neither spoke, but when their eyes met, Johnny grinned. As
the nurse inserted the needle into his arm, Johnny's smile faded. He watched
the blood flow through the tube.
With the ordeal almost
over, his voice, slightly shaky, broke the silence. "Doctor, when do I
die?'
Only then did the doctor
realize why Johnny had hesitated, why his lip had trembled when he'd agreed to
donate his blood. He's thought giving his blood to his sister meant giving up
his life. In that brief moment, he'd made his great decision. Johnny,
fortunately, didn't have to die to save his sister. Each of us, however, has a
condition more serious than Mary's, and it required Jesus to give not just His
blood but His life.── Thomas Lindberg.
The government of Polish
Prime Minister Jaruzelski had ordered crucifixes removed from classroom walls,
just as they had been banned in factories, hospitals, and other public
institutions. Catholic bishops attacked the ban that had stirred waves of anger
and resentment all across Poland. Ultimately the government relented, insisting
that the law remain on the books, but agreeing not to press for removal of the
crucifixes, particularly in the schoolrooms.
But one zealous Communist
school administrator in Garwolin decided that the law was the law. So one
evening he had seven large crucifixes removed from lecture halls where they had
hung since the school's founding in the twenties. Days later, a group of
parents entered the school and hung more crosses. The administrator promptly
had these taken down as well.
The next day two-thirds of
the school's six hundred students staged a sit-in. When heavily armed riot
police arrived, the students were forced into the streets. Then they marched,
crucifixes held high, to a nearby church where they were joined by twenty-five
hundred other students from nearby schools for a morning of prayer in support
of the protest. Soldiers surrounded the church. But the pictures from inside of
students holding crosses high above their heads flashed around the world. So
did the words of the priest who delivered the message to the weeping
congregation that morning. "There is no Poland without a
cross." ── Chuck Colson, Kingdoms in Conflict, pp. 202-3.
In Planet In Rebellion,
George Vandeman wrote: "It was May 21, 1946. The place - Los Alamos. A
young and daring scientist was carrying out a necessary experiment in
preparation for the atomic test to be conducted in the waters of the South
Pacific atoll at Bikini. "He had successfully performed such an experiment
many times before. In his effort to determine the amount of U-235 necessary for
a chain reaction--scientists call it the critical mass--he would push two
hemispheres of uranium together. Then, just as the mass became critical, he
would push them apart with his screwdriver, thus instantly stopping the chain
reaction. But that day, just as the material became critical, the screwdriver
slipped! The hemispheres of uranium came too close together. Instantly the room
was filled with a dazzling bluish haze. Young Louis Slotin, instead of ducking
and thereby possibly saving himself, tore the two hemispheres apart with his
hands and thus interrupted the chain reaction. By this instant, self-forgetful
daring, he saved the lives of the seven other persons in the room. . . as he
waited. . for the car that was to take him to the hospital, he said quietly to
his companion, 'You'll come through all right. But I haven't the faintest
chance myself' It was only too true. Nine days later he died in agony.── George
Vandeman, Planet in Rebellion.
If you were to look at
Rembrandt's painting of The Three Crosses, your attention would be drawn first
to the center cross on which Jesus died. Then as you would look at the crowd
gathered around the foot of that cross, you'd be impressed by the various
facial expressions and actions of the people involved in the awful crime of
crucifying the Son of God. Finally, your eyes would drift to the edge of the
painting and catch sight of another figure, almost hidden in the shadows. Art
critics say this is a representation of Rembrandt himself, for he recognized
that by his sins he helped nail Jesus to the cross.── Source Unknown.
At one point early in
Julius Caesar's political career, feelings ran so high against him that he
thought it best to leave Rome. He sailed for the Aegean island of Rhodes, but
en route the ship was attacked by pirates and Caesar was captured. The pirates
demanded a ransom of 12,000 gold pieces, and Caesar's staff was sent away to
arrange the payment. Caesar spent almost 40 days with his captors, jokingly
telling the pirates on several occasions that he would someday capture and
crucify them to a man. The kidnappers were greatly amused, but when the ransom
was paid and Caesar was freed, the first thing he did was gather a fleet and
pursue the pirates. They were captured and crucified ... to a man! Such was the
Romans' attitude toward crucifixion. It was to be reserved for the worst of
criminals, a means of showing extreme contempt for the condemned. The suffering
and humiliation of a Roman crucifixion were unequaled.── Today in the Word, November 23, 1992.
On February 15, 1947 Glenn
Chambers boarded a plane bound for Quito, Ecuador to begin his ministry in
missionary broadcasting. But he never arrived. In a horrible moment, the plane
carrying Chambers crashed into a mountain peak and spiraled downward. Later it
was learned that before leaving the Miami airport, Chambers wanted to write his
mother a letter. All he could find for stationery was a page of advertising on
which was written the single word "WHY?" Around that word he hastily
scribbled a final note. After Chambers's mother learned of her son's death, his
letter arrived. She opened the envelope, took out the paper, and unfolded it.
Staring her in the face was the question "WHY?"
No doubt this was the
questions Jesus' disciples asked when He was arrested, tried, and crucified.
And it was probably the questions Joseph of Arimathea asked himself as he
approached Pilate and requested the Lord's body (v.58). It must have nagged at
him as he wrapped the body in a linen cloth, carried it to his own freshly hewn
tomb, and rolled the massive stone into its groove over the tomb's mouth. In
the face of his grief, Joseph carried on. He did what he knew he had to do.
None of Jesus' relatives were in a position to claim His body for burial, for
they were all Galileans and none of them possessed a tomb in Jerusalem. The
disciples weren't around to help either.
But there was another
reason for Joseph's act of love. In Isaiah 53:9, God directed the prophet to
record an important detail about the death of His Messiah. The One who had no
place to lay his head would be buried in a rich man's tomb. Joseph probably
didn't realize that his act fulfilled prophecy. The full answer to the why of
Jesus' death was also several days away for Joseph and the others. All he knew
was that he was now a disciple of Jesus -- and that was enough to motivate his
gift of love.── Today in the Word,
April 18, 1992.
Why did the Father will
the death of his only beloved Son, and in so painful and shameful a form?
Because the Father had "laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa.
53:6). Jesus' death was vicarious (undergone in our place) and atoning
(securing remission of sins for us and reconciliation to God). It was a
sacrificial death, fulfilling the principle of atonement taught in connection
with the Old Testament sacrifices: "without the shedding of blood there is
no forgiveness of sins" (Heb. 9:22; Lev. 17:11).
As the "last
Adam," the second man in history to act on mankind's behalf, Jesus died a
representative death. As a sacrificial victim who put away our sins by
undergoing the death penalty that was our due, Jesus died as our substitute. By
removing God's wrath against us for sin, his death was an act of propitiation
(Rom. 3:25; 1 John 2:2,; 4:10 --"expiation," signifying that which
puts away sin, is only half the meaning). By saving us from slavery to
ungodliness and divine retribution for sin, Jesus' death was an act of
redemption (Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19). By mediating and making peace
between us and God, it was an act of reconciliation (Rom. 5:10-11). It opened
the door to our justification (pardon and acceptance) and our adoption
(becoming God's sons and heirs -- Rom. 5:1,9; Gal. 4:4-5).
This happy relationship
with our Maker, based on and sealed by blood atonement, is the "New
Covenant" of which Jesus spoke in the Upper Room (1 Cor. 11:25; Matt.
26:28).
── James Packer, Your
Father Loves You, Harold Shaw Publishers, 1986.
Jesus was crucified, not
in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves. ──
George F. MacLeod.
The figure of the
Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard. ──
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
The cross cannot be
defeated, for it is defeat. ── Gilbert K. Chesterton.
There are no crown-wearers
in heaven who were not cross- bearers here below.── Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
We need men of the cross,
with the message of the cross, bearing the marks of the cross.── Vance Havner.
Christ's cross is such a
burden as sails are to a ship or wings to a bird.── Samuel Rutherford.
He came to pay a debt He
didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. ── Anonymous.
The old cross slew men;
the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses.
The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.──
A.W. Tozer.
All heaven is interested
in the cross of Christ, all hell is terribly afraid of it, while men are the
only beings who more or less ignore its meaning.── Oswald Chambers.
The cross: God's way of
uniting suffering with love. ── Georgia Harkness.
In evil long I took
delight,
Unawed by shame or fear,
Till a new object struck my sight,
And stopp'd my wild career:
I saw One hanging on a Tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fix'd His languid eyes on me.
As near His Cross I stood.
Sure never till my latest
breath,
Can I forget that look:
It seem'd to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke:
My conscience felt and own'd the guilt,
And plunged me in despair:
I saw my sins His Blood had spilt,
And help'd to nail Him there.
Alas! I knew not what I
did!
But now my tears are vain:
Where shall my trembling soul be hid?
For I the Lord have slain!
A second look He gave,
which said,
"I freely all forgive;
This blood is for thy ransom paid;
I die that thou may'st live."
Thus, while His death my
sin displays
In all its blackest hue,
Such is the mystery of grace,
It seals my pardon too.
With pleasing grief, and mournful joy,
My spirit now if fill'd,
That I should such a life destroy,
Yet live by Him I kill'd!
── John Newton, 1725-1807.
What is crucifixion? A
medical doctor provides a physical description: The cross is placed on the
ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders
against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the
wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep
into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being
careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement.
The cross is then lifted into place.
The left foot is pressed
backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail
is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed. The victim is now
crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists,
excruciating, fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in
the brain--the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves.
As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places the
full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of
the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet. As the arms
fatigue, cramps sweep through the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless,
throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to
breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise
himself in order to get even one small breath. Finally carbon dioxide builds up
in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subside.
Spasmodically he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in
life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless
pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial
asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he
moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep,
crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and
begins to compress the heart. 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 tissues--the tortured lungs are making a frantic
effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping
through is tissues. . .Finally he can allow his body to die.
All this the Bible records
with the simple words, "And they crucified Him." (Mark 15:24). What
wondrous love is this?── Adapted from C. Truman Davis, M.D. in The
Expositor's Bible Commentary Vol. 8.
Order of the Events of the
Crucifixion:
Arrival at Golgotha
(Calvary), Mt 27:33; Mk 15:22; Lk 23:33; Jn 19:17
Offer of a benumbing drink, Mt 27:34
The crucifixion, Mt 27:35
Cry, 'Father, forgive...', Lk 23:34
The parting of Christ's garments, Mt 27:35
Jesus mocked, Mt 27:39-44; Mk 15:29
The thieves rail on Him, but one believes, Mt 27:44
Second cry, "Today you will be with me...', Lk 23:43
Third cry, 'Dear woman, here is your son,' Jn 19:26-27
The darkness, Mt 27:45; Mk 15:33
The fourth cry, 'My God, my God...', Mt 27:46-47; Mk 15:34-36
Fifth cry, 'I am thirsty,' Jn 19:28
Sixth cry, 'It is finished,' Jn 19:30
Seventh cry, 'Father, into thy hands...,' Lk 23:46
Jesus dismisses His spirit, Mt 27:50; Mk 15:37
── Merrill F. Unger, The
New Unger's Bible Handbook, Revised by Gary N. Larson, Moody Press,
Chicago, 1984, pp. 397-398.
DEATH
OF CHRIST.
Ⅰ. The death of Christ is
the record of the greatest sin that was ever committed (Acts 2:23).
Ⅱ. The exhibition of the
greatest love that was ever seen (Rom.5:8).
Ⅲ. The manifestation of the
greatest victory that was ever achieved (Heb.2:14).
Ⅳ. The introduction of the
greatest force that has ever operated (1. John 3:16).
Ⅴ. The unlocking of the
greatest problem that has ever engaged man’s attention (1. Peter.1:11).
Ⅵ. The supply of the
greatest incentive that has ever been given (11. Cor.5:14).
Ⅶ. The making known of the
greatest example we can ever imitate (Eph.5:2).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
DEATH
OF CHRIST.
The cross of Calvary
was ever casting its terrible shadow across the path of Christ. It is
interesting and instructive to mark Christ’s repeated reference to His death.
The death of Christ
is—
Ⅰ. The testimony to man’s
sin (Acts 2:23).
Ⅱ. The triumph of God’s
grace (Heb.2:9)
Ⅲ. The trysting place where
God and the sinner can meet (1. Timothy 2:5.6).
Ⅳ. The title to eternal life
(John 12:24).
Ⅴ. The temple for refuge
(Heb.9:12-14).
Ⅵ. The teacher for
instruction (Tit.2:11,12).
Ⅶ. The tether for binding
(Gal.2:20).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》
“ GAVE HIMSELF FOR.”
There are seven
places in the New Testament where the words “ Gave Himself for,” are distinctly
associated with Christ’s substitutionary work. In each case the Greek
preposition, “ Huper,” translated “ for,” occurs. “ Huper” means to act on
behalf of another, as acting in the stead of him, in other words a substitute.
Why did Christ
die?
Ⅰ. To pay the ransom price.
“ Gave Himself a ransom for all” （1.
Tim.2:6）.
Ⅱ. To bear our sins. “ Gave
Himself for our sins” (Gal.1:4).
Ⅲ. To stand in our place. “
Gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20).
Ⅳ. To have us for Himself. “
Gave Himself for it” (Eph.5:25).
Ⅴ. To make us acceptable to
God. “ Given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savour” (Eph.5:2).
Ⅵ. To redeem us from all
iniquity. “ Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity”
(Titus 2:14).
Ⅶ. To remind us of our
obligation to Him. “ This is My body which is given for you” (Luke 22:19,20).
── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》