To those who claim Jesus did nothing for you.
It still makes me hurt, when I think of the four times in my life, that I broke my ribs.
At the time, nothing seems worse. It even hurt to take a half-breath, let alone, try to manage a full breath. Medication seems to mock, freshly broken ribs. Any position you take, greatly intensifies the suffering ... your easy chair suddenly substitutes as a make-shift bed for quite some time, leaving you to prop fist to chin from a sitting position, as you struggle to settle in, for the night.
MULTIPLE broken ribs, such as the purely innocent Jesus suffered, under the rule of Pontius Pilate, a Roman emperor, before his final, fatal destiny on the cross.
The Roman's were well known experts at knowing just the right formula for inflicting the maximum amount of pain on their enemies, just a hair short of their lives. That's why Jesus of Nazereth received exactly 40 lashes from the lethal Cat 'O' Nine Tails, and not a lash more.
First they disrobed him, which in itself, was shameful enough. There he stood, naked before his enemies, for all to see. He could have brought them all down, with just one word, but he did not. He had you on his mind, and what his sacrificial death would mean to you, his generation, and the generations to come. He knew that by his pure, innocent blood, your sin debt would be paid. You see, in the spiritual realm, no sins can be forgiven, unless a blood sacrifice is offered. (Hebrews 9:22) Our blood was tainted with sin. His, was not. So it was He, who paid our sin debt. He...who had done no wrong. No one made Him do it. He volunteered.
The Cat 'O' Nine Tails was a leather whip that has many knotted lashes on it. The lashes look like tails hanging down from the handle. On the end of those nine strands were pieces of metal. As the victim was flogged, it took nothing for the bits of metal to pierce the skin and the blunt force to break the ribs. Now times that by 40 lashes, and you have multiple breaks in each rib. It also ripped open the flesh on Jesus's back, exposing muscle and organs. It literally laid open, his back. Beaten, then a crown of thorns crushed into his head, mocking him as "King of the Jews". In all this pain, He was made to carry the cross that would bring his own death...but it wasn't that easy.
Imagine falling, as Jesus did...three times....with his hands tied to the beam he carried, he landed full force on all those broken ribs, his face, and chest. He was then lead up a hill called Golgatha, where they nailed His hands and feet to two posts, then raised him to be suspended between heaven and earth, for all to see. It was not even His sin he carried in His body, as He had no sin, being the perfect sacrifice and Son of God. It was your sins and mine, that hung Him to that tree.
It was not a fast death, by any means. The lashing Jesus suffered, and the broken ribs, caused blood to settle in his lungs, making it extremely difficult to breathe. So in order to even catch a breath of air, he had to brace himself on the nails that pierced his feet, and push his body up. According to Mark, one of Jesus's disciples, he endured the torment of crucifixion for some six hours from the third hour, at approximately 9 am, until his death at the 9th hour, corresponding to about 3 pm.
Jesus not only said He loves us... He proved it. And even though it was our sins that put him on the cross, he still called us his friends. Could you do that, if someone treated you this way? Near the end of his death, he looked up to His Father in heaven, and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not, what they do!" His very last words were, "Father, into thine hands, I commend myself. It is finished!" Then he hung his head, and died...His mission to pay for our sins, accomplished. He is rightly and justly, our Mediator between God and man. Our free ticket to heaven. Free for us, but it cost Him, his life. If we want to accept his sacrifice as payment for our sins, we have but to tell him, and ask for his forgiveness of our sins. He turns no one away.
At the time, nothing seems worse. It even hurt to take a half-breath, let alone, try to manage a full breath. Medication seems to mock, freshly broken ribs. Any position you take, greatly intensifies the suffering ... your easy chair suddenly substitutes as a make-shift bed for quite some time, leaving you to prop fist to chin from a sitting position, as you struggle to settle in, for the night.
Yet there's something even worse than a broken rib.
MULTIPLE broken ribs, such as the purely innocent Jesus suffered, under the rule of Pontius Pilate, a Roman emperor, before his final, fatal destiny on the cross.
The Roman's were well known experts at knowing just the right formula for inflicting the maximum amount of pain on their enemies, just a hair short of their lives. That's why Jesus of Nazereth received exactly 40 lashes from the lethal Cat 'O' Nine Tails, and not a lash more.
First they disrobed him, which in itself, was shameful enough. There he stood, naked before his enemies, for all to see. He could have brought them all down, with just one word, but he did not. He had you on his mind, and what his sacrificial death would mean to you, his generation, and the generations to come. He knew that by his pure, innocent blood, your sin debt would be paid. You see, in the spiritual realm, no sins can be forgiven, unless a blood sacrifice is offered. (Hebrews 9:22) Our blood was tainted with sin. His, was not. So it was He, who paid our sin debt. He...who had done no wrong. No one made Him do it. He volunteered.
The Cat 'O' Nine Tails was a leather whip that has many knotted lashes on it. The lashes look like tails hanging down from the handle. On the end of those nine strands were pieces of metal. As the victim was flogged, it took nothing for the bits of metal to pierce the skin and the blunt force to break the ribs. Now times that by 40 lashes, and you have multiple breaks in each rib. It also ripped open the flesh on Jesus's back, exposing muscle and organs. It literally laid open, his back. Beaten, then a crown of thorns crushed into his head, mocking him as "King of the Jews". In all this pain, He was made to carry the cross that would bring his own death...but it wasn't that easy.
Imagine falling, as Jesus did...three times....with his hands tied to the beam he carried, he landed full force on all those broken ribs, his face, and chest. He was then lead up a hill called Golgatha, where they nailed His hands and feet to two posts, then raised him to be suspended between heaven and earth, for all to see. It was not even His sin he carried in His body, as He had no sin, being the perfect sacrifice and Son of God. It was your sins and mine, that hung Him to that tree.
It was not a fast death, by any means. The lashing Jesus suffered, and the broken ribs, caused blood to settle in his lungs, making it extremely difficult to breathe. So in order to even catch a breath of air, he had to brace himself on the nails that pierced his feet, and push his body up. According to Mark, one of Jesus's disciples, he endured the torment of crucifixion for some six hours from the third hour, at approximately 9 am, until his death at the 9th hour, corresponding to about 3 pm.
Jesus not only said He loves us... He proved it. And even though it was our sins that put him on the cross, he still called us his friends. Could you do that, if someone treated you this way? Near the end of his death, he looked up to His Father in heaven, and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not, what they do!" His very last words were, "Father, into thine hands, I commend myself. It is finished!" Then he hung his head, and died...His mission to pay for our sins, accomplished. He is rightly and justly, our Mediator between God and man. Our free ticket to heaven. Free for us, but it cost Him, his life. If we want to accept his sacrifice as payment for our sins, we have but to tell him, and ask for his forgiveness of our sins. He turns no one away.
