As I was preparing for today's audio message from John 19:30 entitled "It is Finished!", I was reminded and further educated about the horrific brutality that Christ endured on the cruel Roman cross.
The Roman crucifixion was more than a crucifixion - it was an execution that was designed and carried out with slow torture. At times the prisoner to be crucified would die not on the cross, but rather at the pre-cross scourging called "The Post". 39 lashes from a leather whip that had bone and metal fragment tied at the end of the device would leave a trail of blood and flesh that is too gruesome to describe in detail. The mocking, being spit upon, then having railroad sized spikes driven in the wrists and near the feet. Can you imagine the intense, excruciating, and unbearable pain?
Since the crucifixion was so brutal, why did Jesus go through with this? It wasn't like He wasn't aware of what He was about to endure. Why would He voluntarily walk this treacherous road? Simple. In order to being obedient to the Father, the mission had to be carried out as planned from eternity past. Anything less than then Jesus the Christ fulfilling this task and saying "It is Finished!" would have fallen short of the goal and objective of the greatest mission to have ever been undertaken in the history of mankind.
Regardless of what you are going through today, if you are a genuine believer in Jesus, take heart in that the mission of the cross was not incomplete in any way, but rather it was completed in it's entirety as what Christ did for you and me was paid in full.
Be encouraged and be Engaged in The Truth.
Psalm 115:1
Pressing on toward His calling,
Jon
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