Without thinking, we all know that this holiday is one of the most overlooked holidays in regards to the REAL reason we celebrate. It's a little upsetting to me to see people who don't realize the true meaning of such Christian holidays. This day, of all days, is one that has the most meaning to me. Without my Savior sacrificing his life for me, I would have never experienced forgiveness and eternal life. It's almost unfathomable. While reading my Bible and doing some devotions this week I came across this and just had to share. These are not my exact words but I have paraphrased this a little.
Here is one of the most inspiring stories ever to be told:
When Jesus was only 33, He was condemned to the death. During those days, crucifixion was one of the worst ways to die. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. It was even more dreadful for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.
Each nail was about 10 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as we usually see. Through medical knowledge, we know there's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into His wrist, that tendon would tear and break,
forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe.
His feet were also nailed together. Forcing Him to support Himself on the single nail that held His feet to the cross. (Oh my, the pain as I'm reading this is hurting me. I can't imagine how he felt) Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain. He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue breathing.
I CAN NOT imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage.
Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of
suffering? A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds. From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side... but do we realize these wounds were actually made in his body, they aren't just a picture. It really happened. A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even larger nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. (And you think plucking your eyebrows is pain!)
The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp. Most men would not have survived this torture.
He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His
wounds. The human adult body contains about 5-6 liters of blood. Jesus poured every bit of His blood; He had three nails hammered into His hands and feet; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His side. All these without mentioning the humiliation He suffered after carrying His own
cross for almost 2 miles, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 60lbs). Jesus had to endure this experience, to open the Gates of Heaven, so that we can have free access to God. So that our sins could be FORGIVEN.. All of them, with no exception!
To think, this man would sacrifice his life and endure so much pain is truly unfathomable to me. I mean, he took the sins of literally EVERYONE who was and who was to come. This is why I love Him with all that I have! He made the ultimate sacrifice for me!
So the next time I think its a sacrifice to give up something while complaining about it, I'll think twice. Nothing will ever be as great a sacrifice than God giving his Son to come and not just die but suffer for the ENTIRE world.... past, present and future.
