|
Crucified: To nail to a cross; to put to death by nailing the hands and feet to a cross or gibbet, sometimes anciently, by fastening a criminal to a tree, with cords.
Greek: stauroo [stow-ro’-o] = crucify [46]; to impale on the cross; figurative to extinguish (subdue) passion or selfishness: - crucify. Strong's Greek & Hebrew Dictionary. The method of execution was borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words.
I was having a discussion with a gentleman the other day concerning the idea of crucifixion and the conversation became a bit interesting. I asked him his opinion concerning the cross and how Jesus played out in this experience. He answered the typical thought that it must have been horrible and painful and how humiliating must have been the experience. But in this question, I wanted to point out a significant truth that the Lord has been teaching and instructing me.
I told him that this crucifixion was not as big a deal as so many of the church members make it. After all, there were two other men going through the same thing that day and it was the common practice of punishing the criminal for the crimes against society. Yes, it was painful and the spikes driven were tough to handle and hanging in the air with the body sinking down and cutting off the oxygen, was a staggering experience. Yet so many have died that way and would continue to do so, so that was not the big deal.
However, that is where the similarity ends and I know many had experienced this type of death, just like war and its painful, terrible experience. [for example, watch the beginning of the battle of the Bulge in the movie ‘Saving Private Ryan’] Yes, these men suffered perhaps even greater anguish as some were blown to pieces, limbs being severed and men just bleeding to death.
But in Jesus experience, so much more went on that the eye could not see or the flesh understand. You see, before the nailing to the cross, He was whipped with leather and pieces of steal and a crown of thorns thrown on his head and pounded down with a stick. His lashes left his skin wide open with hundreds of long, open cuts often going all the way to the bone. Then losing all His blood with no strength left, He had to carry the log he was to be nailed to. But this was still not the main thing. The really big deal is all of humanities sin, sickness, disease, mental depression, anger, pain and every diabolical experience known to man entered His body through these wounds and He shed His blood for all of our iniquities and shortcomings and into His body that day flowed every sickness, disease, heartache, suffering, mental illness, depression and all that plagues humanity.
Yes, this is the real message of the Cross, and this is the part that so many Christians refuse to experience and to have faith for. He did not do this for us yesterday, but 2,000 years ago. Isaiah 53:4 (AMP) Surely, He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, diseases, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. Matthew 8:17 (NLT2)
This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.” Psalm 103:3-4 (NKJV) Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies. 1 Peter 2:24 (NASB) and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds, you were healed.
Yes, the cross stands for so much more than we often consider. Christ and the cross stands for all our deliverance from everything that plagues us, yesterday, today and forever.
| 
