Last year I posted a blog specifically for Good Friday. It seems that when this day comes I am a ball of emotions. Today marks the day that my God was brutally beaten, mocked, spit on and then nailed to a cross next to two criminals. He was treated as a criminal, yet He was not the criminal…I was. I deserve the scourging. I deserve the nails and the mockery. I deserve nothing but death for it is I who have transgressed the Almighty God. I am the one who has gone astray, and yet He is the one who searched me out! He is the one who called me to Him. He is the one who knew just how to restore me back to Him…death…His death. My God died for me. Can you see the absurdity in that? I can. It baffles me even now how a Holy, Righteous, Just, and Sovereign God would humble Himself and purchase my sins and take my place in the seat of Judgment. The seat of Judgment which He resides…He, God…bore my sin and shame only to call me His own! Absurd! Ridiculous! Inconceivable! And yet…only He could do it. No one else has the power to die and resurrect themselves in Glory, Power and Majesty than my God! Why would He do that?
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
It pleased God to have His only Son crucified. “But the LORD was pleased, to crush Him, putting Him to grief;” Isaiah 53:10. This is how God demonstrated His love for us. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8.
Is it absurd? Absolutely! Anyone who has a real relationship with Jesus Christ will understand how completely absurd it was for Christ to die in their place. I am still baffled by it, but completely consumed with praise and thankfulness that my God loved me enough to do whatever it took to restore me back to Him. I deserve nothing but His Just wrath. I am not good and none of my works are good. The “good” that people see in me is Jesus Christ and the “good works” that I do are all credited to my Savior who has given me the ability to do good.
On Good Friday, Jesus was treated in the most inhumane way, all for our good. The Word of God was brutally beaten, spit on by mockers, humiliated in the worst of ways before all mankind and then to top it off nailed to a cross to hang for more mocking for hours! Then the worst of all was when my sin was placed on Him…He, Jesus, felt the rejection of the Father that I should have felt. Jesus had never been truly separated from the Father until this moment, the moment that He became sin for me. The first time through the entire day He cries out, and it is because the Father hid His face from Jesus. Out of the entire ordeal this was the worst part of it. Rejection! Jesus was rejected by God the Father…it must have felt like an eternity. The physical pain that Jesus suffered could not even compare to the pain He experienced when the father turned away from Him.
“About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?"” Matthew 27:46
Jesus is quoting from Psalm 22:1 and thus fulfilling a prophecy. As a Christian I will NEVER know or experienced the rejection of the Lord because of the work Christ did on the cross for me. The sins of the world were placed on my God, innocent of them all, but yet He bore them for my soul’s sake. What an awesome God. The ultimate act of love hung on the cross.
And yet this is not the end of the story…HE ROSE! Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead on the 3rd day! The rock was rolled away…it was rolled away to the point it was nowhere to be found! It is symbolic to the fact that I am eternally secure! No one will put Christ back on the cross or in that tomb! He died and conquered the grave by rising from the dead in Glory and victory! He has won the battle over sin and death! What a Sovereign God I serve! If you want to know what love is, or how to display it, look to the cross. Jesus Christ is now and always my Savior and Lord. I am joyfully enslaved to Christ my Lord. THE LORD!
I pray that on this Good Friday and this Passion weekend and on Resurrection Sunday that you turn your focus solely on Christ and Him crucified. I pray that if you don’t know Him as your Savior that you will take a closer look at who Christ is and the work He did over 2,000 years ago. Do not become a Christian to “try it on”. Making the decision to serve and honor God by repenting or your sin and turning from them is not something to be taken lightly. If you do have a personal relationship with Christ, I pray that you will take this time to examine yourself and ask God to show you those areas in your life that do not honor Him and change it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our lives are to be a reflection of the work Christ has done in our hearts. If you find that you are not exhibiting any of the fruits of a follower of Christ, then repent and turn from your wicked ways and run hard after Christ.
Jesus Christ is the reason I live and I surrender ALL of my life to Him, no matter the cost or how unpopular it is. I am prepared to be hated by the world for loving my Jesus!
Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <>< (SAHM)
This is my blog post from last year should you want to read it as well.
Even I sometimes feel entitled to certain luxuries...however, I am sadly mistaken. I do not deserve any good that is in my life. I deserve the wrath of God! We all do! NONE of us is "good" (Psalms 14:1, Psalms 14:3, Psalms 51:3, Psalms 53:3, Mark 10:18, Luke 18: 19) and NONE of us sought after God (Romans 3:11) on our own. We always need to remember that it is only by God's work that we are offered salvation, and only by His calling and drawing that we are even able to accept His gift of Mercy and Grace. So the only thing we can take credit for in our salvation is getting lost...that's it!
“Man’s heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23) and sick (Jer. 17:9). Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:14-20). He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:1). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15). And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3).”
“..we are born again not by our own will but God’s will (John 1:12-13); God grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29); faith is the work of God (John 6:28-29); God appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48); and God predestines (Eph. 1:1-11; Rom. 8:29; Rom. 9:9-23).” (used from CARM)
I am glad that I cannot boast in my own "good works". The only thing I can boast in is Christ! (Romans 4:2, 1 Corinthians 1:29, 1 Corinthians 1:31...and many more) The amazing thing about God is that He would have never planted that tree in the Garden of Eden without already planning for Christ to die for our sins! We truly serve an amazing God. He knows all things and is never surprised by our disobedience. He plans accordingly as we cannot.
I am humbled on this Good Friday, knowing that my Jesus was brutally murdered on my behalf. Jesus stood in my place to receive the punishment I deserve. On this day He suffered great pain, torture and would die a shameful death. However, He will rise and conquer sin and death!
I think we all sometimes forget what Christ went through on our behalf. Everyday should be seen through the lenses of Christ's crucifixion.
Christ's death, burial and resurrection are what all of Christianity clings to. Without these events we would all be doomed to eternal separation from God. Without Jesus conquering death, meaning sin, we are all God's enemies.
The Bible is very clear that if we are friends with the world we are an enemy of God. (James 4:4) Those are some harsh words. But in reality none of us are deserving of God's Mercy and Grace. May we never forget that "we" did nothing to deserve rescuing! May we all live a life of humility in light of the cross. May we never respect man above the Lord. May we never forget why we were enslaved to sin....because WE disobeyed.
God's gift to us is His Son. His Son's gift to us is His life. The truest act of love is what Christ accomplished on the cross. The Lord demonstrated His love for us by being crucified on our behalf while we were still sinning. (Romans 5:8) This act is like that of a Coast Guardsmen giving us their life preserver when we are drowning. We sink, He floats...literally! My husband puts it this way:
“Our sins were like anchors tied to Him dragging Him down to the black depths, but once those sins were dropped off in the abyss, His "Holy buoyancy" brought Him back to the top.”
“It's not that death "would" not hold Him, it "could" not hold Him no more than water can attempt to hold down a life preserver under it's weight... it always floats.”
The offer of salvation is a gift to those who will choose Him. No “work” is required to receive this gift so that we are unable to boast in ourselves. (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9)
G---God's
R---Riches
A---At
C---Christ's
E---Expense
Mercy is: NOT getting what you DO deserve
Grace is: Getting what you DON'T deserve
May our lives always be a reflection of the faith we have placed in Christ. May we as Christians stand up and live a radical life for Christ. May we never compromise our faith and may we always run hard after Christ, by making our lives a living sacrifice for Him. Let us not be conformed to the world, but be NOTICEABLY set apart. May it be obvious in our speech and our walk WHO we belong to and who we serve!
Serving God and My Family,
Crystal <>< (SAHM)
"Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus once more began to describe everything that was about to happen to him in Jerusalem. "When we get to Jerusalem," he told them, "the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, spit on him, beat him with their whips, and kill him, but after three days he will rise again."
-Mark 10:32-34
P.S. I realize the two pictures I posted are a bit graphic, however, the actual events caused Jesus to be unrecognizable as a man. This isn't even close to what He would have really looked like. I don't think our minds or our hearts can fathom exactly what Christ went through. So as offensive as they may be, in reality they aren't even close to portraying an accurate picture of what Jesus looked like after his beatings.
1 comment:
Beautiful post, Crystal.
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