Have you heard this account of who Jesus really was, and is? There are always two sides to a story.
It still makes me hurt, when I think of the four times in my life, 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 only seems to mock, freshly broken ribs. Any position you take, greatly intensifies the suffering and 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.
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 Romans 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 one 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 for 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 is tainted with sin. His, was not...so it was He, who was worthy enough to pay our sin debt on the cross. He...who had done no wrong. No one forced 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. Jesus was tortured so badly that, “his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness—“ (Isa 52:14). 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, that 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 nailed 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.
John 3:33-37 33But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. 34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. 35The one who saw it has testified to this, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe.
36Now these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.”g 37And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”h
The Passion of the Christ focused on nearly every detail about Jesus' crucifixion. This also included the 40 lashes he received. Today, archeologists and researchers are trying to micro analyze the exact ways of Jesus died and how it compares and contrasts the Bible.
The most important thing to remember is that he died for your sins and was resurrected to prove to us that death can be conquered. We also need to be reminded how he lived and that is words are just as important in our daily lives.
@LadyGrace You have lots of people now saying that the Book of Revelations is coming true now because of all the world's problems. The only person who will reveal the end times is the Lord. Our Savior Jesus Christ is the only one who will decide when he will return to judge the living and the end.
@Barefooter25 Amen. Revelation has not come to fruition as yet because it describes the Great tribulation period, when Christ's Church, that is, all in the world who believe in Jesus as Savior and have confessed their sins and have been forgiven, shall have been raptured out, before that time period. We know this because Thessalonians says that God will save us from the wrath to come. Only then will the Antichrist be made known. In fact, the Rapture ushers in the tribulation period. Very good, brother.
I saw the movie "Passion of Christ" and i couldn't even watch the torture done on him with full open eyes, i had to close them completely or sometimes half open because i could not see!
@Activitykittens I wish more people would realize the suffering that Christ did for them. That is why I wrote this post, though I'm sure it doesn't do much Justice or even touch the suffering Christ went through for us. If only they knew how much God loves them. He was never out to hurt anyone. Only to save them.
John 15:13 KJV - "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
Isn't that something? Even though his enemies nailed his hands and feet to a cross and suspended him between Heaven and Earth, what did he say? He STILL called them His friends. Even then, he did not hate. He looked up into heaven and said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." There's no greater love than that. And all He does, is ask us to believe in Him, so that he can save us from the condemnation that sin placed on us, and some act like that's too much to ask. Jesus did all the hard work of saving us. He gave His absolute all for us. Death is the ultimate sacrifice one can give. He deserves all the praise and glory, and to be loved back.
@Barefooter25 To be honest, I don't know if the Shroud of Turin is real or not. However, I'm not sure how that relates to what we were talking about before. I feel the most important thing to know and emphasis, is that Christ was real, is real, and the most important message of all, is that Jesus helped us know how to be saved.
This message was deleted by the author of the main post.
@samueltyler2 What is sad, actually, is that some don't want to find Jesus, for the same reason a thief doesn't want to find a cop. They don't want to find him. They aren't looking for him. They are not willing to admit that we all are in the same boat, in need of Jesus, to forgive us of our sins, so we can be brought back into the right fellowship with God the Father. They don't realize that our sins cannot be dragged into heaven with us. They don't realize, that our sins continue to condemn us and keep us separated from God Almighty, until we ask Jesus as our only Mediator between God and man, to forgive us of our sins, so he can wash them away, as he did by the atonement of his blood sacrifice on the cross.
No other gods provide this gift of salvation. None. They think they can earn their way to heaven by good works and deeds, and that's not what the Bible says at all and who would know better how to be saved then Jesus, who came all the way from heaven to Earth and there were Witnesses, over 500 of them in fact who saw him die and then Ascend to heaven to his Father. All 500 people were not delusional and the disciples transcribed what they saw and all that I have told you is completely from God's Word, which some mistake to be flawed but that's because they don't have all the facts on that either. That's the reason God gave us his Holy Word, so we wouldn't have to guess how to get to heaven but then there are those that say, "Nahhhhh.... I don't need that. I don't need Jesus. I don't need to be saved. He wasn't real.", and make up all the excuses in the world, and if that's the choice they make, God will honor that. He will take them at their word and not save them from the condemnation that sin placed on them. Simple as that.
Jesus has changed and transformed by the Holy Spirit, thousands of lives. I have seen it happen myself many a time. A miracle. Nothing but a miracle when Jesus saved the worst drunk I have ever seen. I mean the man couldn't put the bottle down and he couldn't handle it and he couldn't change it and he cried out to God please help me! Take this from me or kill me, he prayed. He asked God for help and God reached down and stepped in and delivered that man from alcohol use every single day, every waking minute that he held that bottle and drink his cares away so don't tell me that God is not real and that he is not a god of Miracles because I know what I have seen and nothing could have helped sober that man up immediately, and that man never had the desire for another drop of liquor in his life. And that man, by the way that you said God can't change, is my pastor today. I have seen many miracles like this and only God can do that. Only God can do that and make that huge transformation in a person. And that's why it is not a religion, it is a relationship with Jesus. Huge difference.
You talk about truth. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no man can come to My Father, accept by Me." He was saying I am not just anyway or any truth or any life, I am THE way, THE Truth, and THE Way, to eternal life. He wasn't leaving us to guess about it because for all the suffering and torment he went through on the cross for us, he wasn't going to leave it to chance that we had to guess about how to get to heaven and have eternal life. And it's a devil's lie to mankind that Jesus cannot save us and that Him and His Word is a lie. He would love to have our company in hell with him and in fact, that's exactly what's going to happen, because if we cross over without our sins being forgiven, they will continue to keep us separated from Christ and salvation and our joining our Father in Heaven when we die. It's sad, that a person can reject so great a Salvation and miss heaven, simply because they feel they have to have the answers to every little thing before they can be saved, and refuse to simply trust Christ to keep His Word. God is no liar.
We all know we're not going to get to Heaven by our own efforts, so man better figure out how he's going to get there without Jesus. Even if he suddenly sprouted wings, he still couldn't get to heaven without Jesus. Jesus gave us His Word, so we wouldn't have to guess how to get to heaven, and that means we will have no excuse before him, for not taking him up on his free offer of salvation, that could have saved us. We do not know better than God and we are not smarter than God. It is God that sets the standard for Salvation, not man. Jesus is trying his best to save us, yet all we can do is find excuses not to believe him. This is not someone who wants to know Jesus. And all the other gods you talk about that people believe in, Jesus' answer to that, not mine, is that all the other religions worship idols that cannot see, hear, speak, answer prayers, because they are man-made and the people who believe in them and worship idols, all of them believe that you can get to Heaven by doing good works and helping others and reaching a certain level, but that means their own efforts they think we'll get them to have it and the Bible is very adamant about that, that that does not work....PERIOD. God warned us about that. That does not work. And if people want to argue with God about that and think they are smarter than God, sadly, God said they will miss heaven because of their own pride, stubbornness, and selfishness. They will never be able to stand before God and tell him that he did not tell us how to be saved. And that's why God's Word says there will be no excuse good enough, to explain why they missed heaven, because not only did Jesus come down from heaven to tell us the good news of Salvation through Jesus Christ; He came down and gave us His Word and he preached to people, so that they would not have to guess, that's the whole point. So they will not be able to say no one told them.
Once we cross over, we can't suddenly say "oh I believe you Jesus." It takes faith. And the reward for our faith, is found in the wonderful results. I think it's arrogant to question God's Plan of Salvation. He not only said he loves us, he proved it on the cross. He gave his all, his very best to us. There's nothing more he could have done to convince us that we need him to save us from the condemnation that sin placed on us. We either believe and receive, are we can doubt and miss heaven by our own choice. By our own choice because God is not willing that any perish. And none of the other gods can get us to heaven, is what Jesus said in his holy word. We either believe him or we don't. Jesus said it's foolish to gain the whole world but lose your own soul. We are not to gamble with our soul. We are not to leave it to chance. We will not like the results and whether we go to heaven or not, that is strictly our choice. Our choice. God will not make that choice FOR us, but our choice and decision, he said, determines where we shall spend eternity. That is nothing to blink at or dismiss and leave to chance. We are not to go by what man says, but strictly go by, and look at what God Says, if we want to spend eternity in heaven. You indicate that I think I know it all. I know nothing except what Jesus tells me in His Holy Word, and I have strictly shared what he has taught us in His Word. Jesus told his disciples after he ascended into heaven to go into the world on his behalf and let them know how to be saved, as he didn't want us to guess and miss heaven . There's nothing arrogant about that. He wanted to make sure that future Generations would know how to be saved. I think that instead of people trying to find excuses not to be saved, they should be looking to Jesus Christ and inviting him into their hearts and lives so he can forgive them and give them the eternal life he wants them to have. God is no liar. Tell me what excuse will be good enough, to make us miss heaven.
This message was deleted by the author of the main post.
