What love Jesus had for me to die for me! Love like that cannot be described.
Why would such a great, awesome God send his own dear son to die for a worthless, dirty, horrible person like me that is really an abomination in the sight of the Lord. It does not take much of a genius to conclude that when your creation malfunctions to smash it up and make a new one. But no, my God loves His creation! He loves it so much he would do anything to get it back rather than make a new one. So how did He do this?
My dear Lord was arrested and put on trial for claiming He was the Son of God (which He was.) If I were Jesus, I would not have stood there, be arrested and called a liar, I would have struck them with lightning or something. Jesus the Son of the Most High God, the most important, greatest, most powerful King stood before meager man who called Him a liar and He did nothing! What love! Now Jesus was beaten and mocked, spat at and blasphemed, by minute men! Ho, if I were Jesus, those people would have suffered bad! Oh, talk about punishment, what do you think these guys would have got? What, do you think I, the most important being, would be pushed around by these fleas! But Jesus took it all. Then Jesus was taken and beaten almost to the point of death by a scourge! No way would I have let that happen, I would have made a public example of anybody who so much as dared to lift a finger to my hurt. Fire from Heaven would come and consume these dead dogs. But Jesus let himself be tied to a post, have the clothing taken off his back and be whipped by a scourge -- a whip with several leather cords onto which are attached sharp and hooked objects. He stood there, not exerted His powers, while somebody lifted up this whip and flung it upon His back with all his might. There was Jesus, the greatest person of all, tied to a post, the whip was brought down, and sharp objects caught the soft, quivering flesh and ripped it open as the whip was drawn roughly out. Again and again, slash after slash, back was removed form skin, pain and agony untold, but He stood there. Love! I would have been raging, I would not have let that continue. Ten thousands of angels would have been summoned to my defense. But my Lord silently waited. Waited for what? Waited to be crucified!
The cross arrived, a rough piece of wood I doubt ever saw the carpenters plane. It is rough wood with sharp splinters. When Jesus was made to bear this cross, the splinters dug painfully into His already stinging back. I have run out of punishments to decree, but Jesus simply took the cross and bore it until His already weakened body collapsed under the weight of it. Jesus had not an ounce of pride, all dignity was stripped from Him and He did nothing to prove Himself. He heard the rattling of the back of nails coming His way. He lay stretched out on His cross, naked. (The piece of cloth on Jesus in pictures is the respect of the artist, not the reality of the scene -- Jesus was naked!) The great powerful God was naked before man! Shame, oh what utter shame! A man came and poised a nail above His hand. This is God remember. He reached for his mallet and gave a few taps to gauge his aim. He lifted the mallet up high above his head and brought it smashing down onto the nail driving it right through Jesus' hand into the wood. Jesus did not swear at him, he just forgave him while he nailed his other hand and feet. The cross is lifted up and strain is put on Jesus's hands and feet. It is dropped roughly into a small hole dug to keep it upright, forcing the rough wood further into his back. People were jeering and mocking, saying " If you really are God's Son, prove it, save yourself." "Ah ha, see, told you He wasn't the Christ, He is still hanging there." I, if I were Jesus, would most certainly have jumped off that cross and proven once and for all that I was the Son of God. But Jesus, suffering excruciating pain and shamed before the world, still kept between the wrinkles of pain on His face a definite pigment of love. "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they are doing, blame me, not them, blame me, not Ben." His arms were stretched out as a gesture of an embrace. Then, my sin was cast upon Jesus. Sin is the most horrible thing in the world to Jesus who is holy, yet He was wrapped it it. The best description I have for this is nowhere near the reality of this burden that was put on His back. But it is like He was nailed to this cross, everybody was laughing at Him, He was naked, His head was pricked with thorns, His back was torn to pieces, the sun was burning upon His already dehydrated body and He was thrown into a slurry pit (sin) to drown. His own Father turns away, He cannot bear the smell of that slurry (sin). Jesus cries out in anguish, His body torn and His soul broken. He dies! Oh what love! Thank You Jesus.
Love so amazing, so divine
demands my soul, my life my all.
Isaac Watts
