God’s Greatest Gift
| 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. John 3:16The enemies of Jesus had finally gotten Pilate, the Roman governor, to agree to Jesus’ death. For nearly three years, these Jewish leaders had listened to the carpenter from Nazareth claim to be their promised Savior. From the beginning, they had refused to believe him; but recently he had been causing such a stir and arousing so many people, that they decided they had to kill him in order to keep the control of the Jewish nation.
The order for crucifixion was given by Pilate early on a Friday morning after the night of the Passover supper. Afterward, soldiers took Jesus away and beat him. Then they dressed him up like a king, with a scarlet robe and a crown of thorns. In his hand they placed a reed to serve as his scepter. What fun they made of him! “Hail, O King,” they mocked, and then they spit on him. Without a word Jesus stood, calm and composed in the middle of a howling, angry crowd. But the beating had left him exhausted. When they gave him his heavy cross to carry all the way to the place of crucifixion, he stumbled under its weight. Down the winding little streets of Jerusalem he dragged it, prodded along by the guards on either side of him. Finally, he dropped to the ground. A guard grabbed a man named Simon from the crowd. Simon was not even from Jerusalem – he had merely come into town from the country – but something about the stranger bowing under the weight of his own cross made Simon willing to help. Out of the city and up a hill called Calvary, the “Place of the Skull,” Simon and Jesus marched. Behind them came two criminals who were also being crucified, some Roman soldiers, Jewish leaders, and a crowd of curious onlookers. By this time, the day’s activities were beginning throughout the city, and word was spreading that the Jewish leaders had captured Jesus during the night. Now many of the people in Jerusalem loved Jesus and believed his message. When they heard that he was about to be crucified, they, too, hurried to Calvary. How horrified they were to see three crosses already lying on the ground and soldiers digging the holes to set them in. The disciples looked helplessly from Jesus to one another. When the holes were dug, the Roman soldiers stretched Jesus out upon his cross and nailed him to the wooden beams, driving heavy spikes into his hands and feet. Across the top they fastened a sign that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Then they stood the cross upright and dropped it into the hole they had prepared. There Jesus hung, dying just like the thieves on either side of him. With the blood pouring from the wounds the nails had made, Jesus looked down and said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not realize what they are doing.” Yes, Jesus could still pray for those who had nailed him to the cross. And all the while, the Roman soldiers stood unconcerned right beneath him, dividing his clothes among themselves. But the disciples who had gathered clung to each other and wept. Among them was Jesus’ own mother, Mary, and John, and apostle whom Jesus dearly loved. When Jesus looked down into their sad faces, he said, “John, take care of my mother for me.” And to Mary he said, “John will be like a son to you in my place.” Some in the crowd curled their lips in disgust when they saw the sorrowful disciples. These were the Jewish scribes and priests who had paid Judas to bring Jesus to them and voted that he was deserving to die. They were glad to see that he would soon be out of the way. They looked up at him and mocked, “You saved others. Why don’t you save yourself?” One of the thieves hanging beside him joined in, “Yes, why don’t you save yourself and us, if you are really God’s Son?” But the other thief said to him, “How can you speak this way, knowing that you are about to die? You and I deserve to be here, but this man has done no wrong.” Then he turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” With the great love that he still possessed, Jesus answered, “This very day you will be with me in Paradise.” At noon, the sun disappeared from sight and God caused an awful darkness to cover the earth for about three hours. Although he had done only good all his life, he was having to bear the pain because man was sinful, and God wanted man to be saved. This was the only way it could be done – for God’s perfect Son to die for man’s sins. Christ, as God, had always known that he had to suffer this death, but he was a man, too. As a man, it was almost more than he could bear. At last he could not help sobbing, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” A little later Jesus took a little drink of vinegar from a sponge that was held up to him. Then about three o’clock in the afternoon he saw that his work on earth was nearly over. He whispered his last words, “It is finished. Father, into Your hands I give my spirit.” After that, he died. At that moment, the curtain on the Temple that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom. The ground shook and trebled as during an earthquake. The Roman captain in charge of Jesus’ death looked at his noble prisoner and kneeled before the cross. “Truly this was the Son of God,” he said. |
For more information please read the following in the Bible’s New Testament:
Marrtin P. S. Beautiful Bible Stories; The Southwestern Company; Nashville; 1964; p. 424-428. |
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