“Clean” by Natalie Grant was played for the staff of youth camp one day in preparation for the start of camp. After it was played, there were not many dry cheeks. We think we are strong enough to handle all life throws at us…. we often forget that God is the King of the world. We try to control everything; however, we make mistakes. We get jealous. We gossip. We idolize money. We put others down to build ourselves up and we put sports, jobs, and possessions above God. Every person in that room realized they had baggage to deal with before the campers came and that we had to give it over to God.
Luckily, we have a Savior, unlike any other god, who can deal with all of that baggage. Today is “Good Friday” in the Christian faith….but why so good? Jesus was NAILED to the cross and KILLED. He was obedient…obedient to the point of DEATH on a cross. Bad for him, but amazingly GOOD for us.
A little about crucifixion…. Normally, before people were nailed on the cross, they were first whipped. The whipping could have lasted hours and tore into the skin of the person being flogged. The whips had several “tails” which could have been metal pieces to pieces of bones. Next, the person had to carry his beam to the place of crucifixion, and it wasn’t sanded down….it was jagged, splintery, would rub against the skin of the person carrying it and overall a painful trip to the spot of crucifixion. The person then gets nails into the hands….as the beam is placed, the person hangs (the feet hang loose and there is nothing to push up on), the shoulders and wrists are dislocated due to the gravity of the body. The body is slumped, which makes breathing difficult. Cardiac stress, hyperventilation, shock, muscle cramping/spasms and so much more occur with all of this torture. Not to mention a crown made of thorns thrust onto your head (I hate just getting jabbed by one! Imagine numerous thorns digging into your head!).
Jesus was offered a sponge with vinegar…but he refused. If he would have taken it, it would have been like a sedative…it would have dulled his senses and he wouldn’t have felt the pain. Instead, he REFUSED. He felt pain….torture…our sins that we commit every day. Every time we go against love, it’s a nail in the hand, a beating from the whip, or a thorn into his flesh. No other god in history, went through this type of torture. Because of that torture and Jesus being the sacrificial lamb, you and I are saved if you’ve accepted Jesus into your heart.
So, although that day was terrible, it’s good for YOU and good for ME because there is nothing too dirty that you have done in your life that God won’t forgive you for and make you worthy in his eyes. You just have to step up and ask for the forgiveness, ask for God to come into your life, and be the beacon of light so that others will wonder why you SHINE so bright.
John 3:16-17 declares “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” This was God’s wondrous provision for salvation and is available to all of mankind. It was through sacrificing of God’s only Son on the cross, shedding His own blood, that Jesus can make that claim. He willingly died for the world.
http://listverse.com/2017/09/03/10-excruciating-medical-facts-about-the-crucifixion-of-christ/
