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His Crucifixion

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CHRIST, death of

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.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

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.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

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.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

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.

 

CRUCIFIXION

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.

 

CRUCIFIXION

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.

 

CHRIST, death of, STATISTICS AND STUFF

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.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST, Short Statements on the Cross

Jesus was crucified, not in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves. ── George F. MacLeod.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard. ── Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

The cross cannot be defeated, for it is defeat. ── Gilbert K. Chesterton.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

There are no crown-wearers in heaven who were not cross- bearers here below.── Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

We need men of the cross, with the message of the cross, bearing the marks of the cross.── Vance Havner.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

Christ's cross is such a burden as sails are to a ship or wings to a bird.── Samuel Rutherford.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

He came to pay a debt He didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. ── Anonymous.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

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.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

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.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST

The cross: God's way of uniting suffering with love. ── Georgia Harkness.

 

CROSS OF CHRIST, Poems

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.

 

CRUCIFIXION

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.

 

CRUCIFIXION, Statistics and Stuff

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.

. The death of Christ is the record of the greatest sin that was ever committed (Acts 2:23).

. The exhibition of the greatest love that was ever seen (Rom.5:8).

. The manifestation of the greatest victory that was ever achieved (Heb.2:14).

. The introduction of the greatest force that has ever operated (1. John 3:16).

. The unlocking of the greatest problem that has ever engaged man’s attention (1. Peter.1:11).

. The supply of the greatest incentive that has ever been given (11. Cor.5:14).

. The making known of the greatest example we can ever imitate (Eph.5:2).

── F.E. MarshFive 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—

. The testimony to man’s sin (Acts 2:23).

. The triumph of God’s grace (Heb.2:9)

. The trysting place where God and the sinner can meet (1. Timothy 2:5.6).

. The title to eternal life (John 12:24).

. The temple for refuge (Heb.9:12-14).

. The teacher for instruction (Tit.2:11,12).

. The tether for binding (Gal.2:20).

── F.E. MarshFive 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?

. To pay the ransom price. “ Gave Himself a ransom for all” 1. Tim.2:6.

. To bear our sins. “ Gave Himself for our sins” (Gal.1:4).

. To stand in our place. “ Gave Himself for me” (Gal.2:20).

. To have us for Himself. “ Gave Himself for it” (Eph.5:25).

. 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).

. To redeem us from all iniquity. “ Gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14).

. To remind us of our obligation to Him. “ This is My body which is given for you” (Luke 22:19,20).

── F.E. MarshFive Hundred Bible Readings