verse of the day

Monday 18 June 2012

Enduring the cross. [Hebrews 12v 2 ]

We also read in relation to our Saviour that He not only endured, but He endured the cross [Hebrews 12v2],now many things have been written about this. All His life He knew, the cross was not hidden from Him, his suffering was not hidden from Him,it is clearly shown in Gods word ,  cp....Isaiah 53/Psalm 22, these are the most obivious scripture. Yet the whole sacrificial system pointed to a suffering Saviour,they were never and end in themselves,the writer of the book of Hebrews deals with this cp. chapter 10,no they pointed to, that sacrifice of Christ on the cross, a sacrifice that would effectively deal with mans greatest need, the forgiveness of sins.Christ did this as Hebrews 10 v12,tells us, / but this man , after He had offered one sacrifice for sins, Hebrews 9v25 reminds us that Christ cannot be offered again and again, like the animal sacrifice, when Christ died,He cried it is finished.[19 v30], no more sacrifices.It is important that we grasp this,but let us consider this enduring, crucifixion was an awful way to die,it was brutal in the extreme,let us also remember that Christ had already endured physical abuse ,which included a flogging, which many did not survive,so on top of this he endured hours,  hanging nailed to the cross,bearing the heat of the sun. Christ endured all that, but there is more , for we read of a deeper level of suffering, a level which no human mind can fathom. It is Peter who tells us in 1 Peter 2 v24, of the nature of that suffering, /Who His own self  bare our sins in His own body on the tree/.It is  L Morris in his very profitable book /,The cross in the NT/ writes, it means He bore the penalty of our sins.His enduring the cross and all that it meant, was for the sole purpose of bearing the penalty for sin, my sin your sin.The result is, that all who trust Christ as their Saviour , escape the penalty of sin,which they deserve,and  are granted forgiveness,and eternal life.
A  prayer...../Dear God we thank You that You so loved this world,that You gave Your only begotten son Jesus to die on the cross,we praise You that He was prepared to endure all that this meant,help us in all we have to face,to follow in His footsteps,in His name we ask this Amen/


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