This is a post written by my friend Paul, on our awesome blog, Agape. I'm featuring this post because it shows you the true suffering and pain Christ went through for us. It's an awakening. We take it for granted so often, and I've personally I've forgotten how horrible it was, the pain and misery that Jesus went through for our failures. And I'm sure everyone has done that at some point or another.
So I want you to read this post. Not to only read about one man's suffering, but to also read about how much our God loves us. :)
So yeah. Start reading! xP
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"Warning:
Some content in this post may be
inappropriate for younger
audiences.
ex·cru·ci·at·ing
[ik-skroo-shee-ey-ting]
adjective
1. extremely painful; causing intense suffering; unbearably distressing; torturing: an excruciating noise; excruciating pain.
2. exceedingly elaborate or intense; extreme: done with excruciating care.
Ever
since March 13 (the day I created CTGA), I have been very active in
online ministry. Lately, I have been discussing Christianity with
atheists (this has been going on for about 2-3 months) on a social
networking app specifically created for iDevices called Instagram. On
Instagram, you simply share photos. Photographers use it to show off
their work, I use it to be goofy and sometimes promote the Gospel, and
some use it to insult the reality of Jesus. I, like the crazy person I
am, target these sites and share the love of Christ while answering
their questions. A few days ago I ran into a picture that had on it a
quote by an unknown author and it went as follows:
"Jesus hardly made the greatest sacrifice. He knew He would be resurrected anyway,"
I
confess, I was actually moved and it made me thinking, and for once in
my life, I agreed... for about two seconds. My mind went back to some of
the sermons I've heard about the Crucifixion and to some quotes in
books, that I've started (but never finished -.-) and it got me thinking
"How great was the sacrifice?" I knew the cross had to hurt, but I
didn't exactly know how much until one day I stole a book from my dad's
office called "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. I was just skimming
through the book aimlessly until I ran over a chapter called "Was Jesus'
Death a Sham and His Resurrection a Hoax?" I wasn't really pursuing
this question but I just thought I'd read the chapter anyway. I read
very gruesome details about the cross and how Jesus DEFINITELY died.
Today, I want to share with you some of that stuff and how great the
sacrifice really was.
Let's
start in Gethsemane when Jesus prayed in the garden shortly before
His arrest. According to Matthew 26:38, Jesus was depressed- extremely
depressed, so depressed it was to the point of dying. He knew what was
going to happen the next day. Let me explain some stuff about his
depression. Luke 22:44 records that Jesus started to do something quite
peculiar in the garden; something we would say is silly. He sweated
blood. Many skeptics think that this passage is ludicrous and say it's
just imaginary. Well, it turns out that this is an actual medical
condition called hematidrosis. It's very rare, and is caused by a high
level of psychological stress. If you want more details on it, you may
Google it. But there was something else this episode of hematidrosis
did, it made the skin fragile and extremely sensitive, keep that in
mind.
After
Jesus was finally arrested and brought before Pilate, he was whipped.
This wasn't no ordinary whipping either; they used this little guy
called the Roman whip. This little whip had a few metal balls and
a couple bones. The metal balls would take care of making bruises and
contusions eventually opening them, and the bones would do the shredding
and cuts that would commonly expose the spine. Remember how the skin
was extremely fragile and sensitive due to the hematidrosis. The Romans
were very brutal, and mercy was a foreign language for them. Often, the
Roman soldier would do more than 39 lashes; if he lashed too many times,
the victim would surely die. 39 lashes wasn't the limit, it was just
the required minimum, and the soldier doing the flogging could lash the
victim until he got bored. At the end of 39 lashes, the victim’s bowels
would be hanging out from the back and he would lose a ton of
blood! History claims that there were very many people who died of the
lashing before they were hung on the cross. The least that the flogging
would do is put the victim though this thing called hypovolemic shock.
What that is, is when you lose a ton of blood and your heart does funky
things to pump blood that isn’t there, it causes lightheadedness and
thirst. Remember that. Let's just say this; it was exceedingly laborious
to walk with a cross on your back, colon hanging out, spine exposed,
and a stinging discomfort. He passed out (remember the hypovolemic
shock?) and the Romans forced a random stranger named Simon to carry his
cross. And now, the real suffering begins.
I introduced you to the word excruciating
earlier and now I want to tell you were the word comes from: there was
no word in the Greek language that could describe the pain on the cross.
They had to create a new word literally meaning out of the cross.
Think about that for second. They had made up a word to describe the
pain of cross. It was beyond painful, it was beyond torturing, it was excruciating.
Let’s
talk about the nails. Many skeptics think that Jesus couldn't have been
nailed because most historical art and stories say that the crucified
victim was held on the cross by ropes. Archaeology has disproven that.
In 1968 archaeologists in Jerusalem found around 30 Jews who died around
A.D. 70 one of them was still on a cross and, lo and behold, nails were
found in his feet. Now, about the nails, where were they in Jesus'
hands? Most believe it was the palms, but due to his weight the nails
would rip his hand and he would have fallen off the cross. The nails
were most definitely driven into his wrists where there was a
little nerve there called the median nerve. The nail would have crushed
that nerve. This is where it gets painful; the nerve is the same kind of
nerve that we know as the funny bone. So, imagine you have a pair of
pliers and you decide to squeeze the funny bone until it crushes. That's
what Jesus would've felt in both hands and both feet. Ouch x4. Using
simple mathematical equations, we can also determine that Jesus' arms
were stretched and that both his arms were dislocated. Hanging there, in
order to breathe he would have to lift himself up with his nail
driven feet, tearing his foot and scraping his open back against the
splintery wood of the cross. Eventually, he would become exhausted and
just stop breathing and die, or it could've been by the slow and painful
death of asphyxiation. The exact cause is unknown.
Physical
pain must have been monolithic, but even worse, the spiritual pain.
Jesus hated sin. God’s entire wrath towards sin was poured out on to
Christ. Think of your least favorite food, think about spending six
hours having that food shoved in your mouth being forced to swallow, and
when you got full, it wouldn't stop. The pain and the disgust would be
tremendously high. I believe this is similar to what happened to Jesus'
spirit on the cross. He carried our lust, our pride, our envy, our
idolatry, our lies, our stupidity on a rugged cross!
Now,
let’s think about God the Father in this situation. One of the most
emotional moments I have had concerning God's sacrifice was one night
when my dad (who is a pastor) guest preached at another church. In that
sermon, my dad mentioned God's sacrifice and he said this (not exact
quote), "If I loved a people who insulted me and I wanted them to know
me, I would've sacrificed myself to die, but I would never send my only
son". I am his only son, and from my perspective, if my dad asked me to
die for people who hated his guts, I would have ran away from home
thinking my father had gone crazy. It's absolutely impossible to
comprehend, but it was necessary for mankind. But get this, He doesn't
need us. He didn't have to do all that stuff at all. But He did. Why on
earth He would want to, I really have absolutely no clue. J. I. Packer
puts it well:
There
is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the
thought that, for some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend,
and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in
order to realize this purpose. (Knowing God p.42)
We
can have unconditional love, but will we go to the point of
excruciating love? Why would Jesus go through all that physical and
spiritual pain just to make friends with his worst enemies? God is one
of the craziest Beings the world will ever know, but I'm very glad I
know Him. Let's worship!
May
I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through
which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Galatians 6:14 NIV
In Christ,
Paul"
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It really is an amazing post. Which is why I want to encourage you to help spread this. Waaaayy more people need to know about how much Jesus really suffered for them.
We see all these paintings of Jesus on the cross, looking nice and clean, no scrapes, cuts, or bruises, which small little nails in his feet and wrists.
And sadly, that's what's in most people's minds when they think of Jesus' sacrifice for them.
So if you're reading this, and agree with me, then I want you to share this.
If you have a blog, feature it as a guest post (like I am). It won't take very long and its a great way to get it read! Just remember to leave a link to original post on Agape, and to the blog itself. (and try to get your readers to share it as well)
If you don't have a blog, tweet it! Recommend it on Google! Like it on Facebook! Share it here on blogger or some other site. It's the reason I have those buttons right above the comments. xP but this needs to be known.
I know it sounds like I'm asking for a lot, but it only takes a few people make something go viral. Kony 2012 started with one person, and it has now become known worldwide, the video on youtube having +80,000,000 views and counting.
I'm not asking for that kind of recognition, but we definitely need to get people reading this.
And that's not going to happen without you guys!
..So I hope this changed how you view Jesus sacrifice for us. And I hope this moves you the same way it moved me, and compels you to share it with others. You never know who's life it will change. :)
Have a great day and God bless!!
