first hand account of the cross

Today’s devotion will be a bit different, if you will.  May this be a small peek in to a first hand experience of a person that lived that Friday, crucifixion day, of Holy Week we know as Easter.  It is based on This passage of Scripture:

Isaiah 52:13-53:12  ESV

Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.  As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations.  Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
53 Who has believed what he has heard from us?  And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?  For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.  Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

This week has been something of a paradox for me.  As a follower of the way I have heard Jesus speak, watched Him do miracles and been mesmerized by His insight for months, but not this.  He was arrested and has been beaten.

Jesus told us that He was the fullness of God.  He would even refer to the plan of God and the connection between Jesus and His father.  His words were the fathers.  His actions were directed by the father.  But why this?

He hangs on that dark, jagged piece of wood meant for the dregs and lawbreakers.  I never saw Him break a law.  I saw Him love and give life.  I saw Him share hope with those who has been pushed by all others.

But when Jesus was mocked or lied about, He was silent.  Not until He was pushed did He even say a word.  This pain, literally the pain that I see writhing from His body is too much for me, and it has to be horrible for Jesus.  Why has it come to this?

Death.  No!  But I remember that I read and had read to me.  The Messiah would stand in place of wrong.  He would take our sorrow.  He would be servant of all.  That is the Jesus I has come to know.

That is the Jesus I have come to love.  But death?  There has to be more.  It is dark.  These are so confusing minutes.  What is next?

Romans 4:25  NLT

He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.

Don’t let the story stop there.  Spend time this weekend observing Easter and celebrating the resurrection.  If you are in our area, join us Sunday at 10:10am at The Community Fellowship in Collinsville, VA.