Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
3 22 2024
GOOD FRIDAY – The Price Unfathomable!
Good used to mean holy. … That terrible Friday has been called Good Friday because it led to the Resurrection of Jesus and his victory over death and sin and the celebration of Easter.
The very pinnacle of Christian celebrations.
After being arrested in the garden, I’m sure Jesus was in prayer all night, locked in the dungeon of the high priest’s house. I think when they took Him that morning, He was in complete peace, even calm. They brought Him before Pontius Pilate, who sent him to Herod. Herod promptly sent Him back to Pilate who, sometime in mid-morning, bowed to the pressure of the Temple leadership and the crowds and condemned Jesus to a horrible death by crucifixion.
The scourging at the pillar is a horrific and mournful event that serves as a reminder of the horrors Jesus suffered for His love of you. A scourge typically consists of many thongs fastened to a handle. A well-known configuration of a scourge is the cat o’ nine tails with glass, metal, and stone attached to its ends, to literally, rip the flesh off the bone. (called Scorpio. Latin for a Roman flagrum: 1 Kings 12:11:
1 Peter 3:18 ESV ”For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” He was beaten beyond recognition. Isiah 52:14 “Just as many were appalled at you— his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man, and his form did not resemble a human being”—
In the late morning, Jesus was taken by soldiers through the city and up the hillside of Golgotha. By noon, He had been nailed to the Cross. The mechanism of death in crucifixion is asphyxiation. He must push up, through nailed feet, each time to take a breath. The time frame for death is anywhere from five to twenty hours. Jesus hung in agony for some three hours and then died at around three in the afternoon.
To fulfill the prophecies not a single bone of his body was broken even though the protocol was to break both legs. “Many are the afflictions of the just man, but the Lord delivers him from all of them. He guards all his bones: not even one of them shall be broken” (Psalm 34:20). “And they gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21).
According to the Gospel of John after Jesus’ death, one soldier pierced his side with a spear to be certain that he had died, then blood and water gushed from the wound.
In the Synoptic Gospels and history, various supernatural events accompany the crucifixion, including darkness, an earthquake, and (in Matthew) the resurrection of saints. He was taken down from the Cross and hastily placed in the tomb before sundown.
Today is a day of prayer, fasting, and abstinence. To the extent possible, Christians are urged to keep today free of work, social engagements, and entertainment,
devoting themselves to prayer, repentance, and worship.
The Passion is part of a longer story and cannot be properly understood without the story of the Resurrection. The word Passion is the Latin word for suffering.
Finally, what was the source of the passion of Christ? It was his intense love for mankind. The great love of Jesus resulted in his extreme commitment to walk a very precise and narrow path to redeem mankind. “For the sake of restoring humans to fellowship with God, He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant by being made in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7). His passionate love caused him to leave the glory of heaven to take human form and live an obedient life of self-sacrifice required by the holiness of God. Only such a selfless life could produce the pure and innocent blood sacrifice required to cover the sins of those who put their faith in him (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7).
May I say, Jesus was not just a good man who fell victim to evil circumstances… On the contrary, He predicted the manner of his death and the time and place chosen by the Father (Matthew 26:2).
Jesus was not a powerless victim. He embraced death to accomplish our redemption and rose from the dead in power and majesty! Even the darkest of days will work to the glory of God! God IS in control.
Peter Stoner, in his classic book Science Speaks, calculated the chance of any man fulfilling all these prophecies, even down to the present time, to be 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (10 to the 17th power). How can anyone think that Jesus just “happened” to be in the right place at the right time?
What?
To die the most horrific death imaginable… for people who hated Him.
Spend some time today to realize the price He paid for you.
Next Week is Holy Week!
I Am They SCARS
