Don't Look Away
It’s Good Friday. The day we remember the horror our Lord went through to earn salvation for us. A time to think about all He endured so that our sins can be forgiven, and we can be reconciled to God. A somber day that gives us the opportunity to do what we should way more often than once a year. Sit at the foot of the cross with the disciples and the women and enter into the sufferings of Christ.
I imagine we all know that the coming, affliction, death, and resurrection of the perfect Lamb of God were prophesied in the Old Testament. But the details given of what happened on Good Friday are chilling.
John 19:1 tells us that Pilate had Jesus flogged. This meant he was beaten mercilessly with a whip embedded with pieces of broken glass and bone that ripped the skin right off Him. Matthew 27:28-31 tells us what happened next: And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him. (ESV) The gospels give an accurate account of the horrendous torture of our Lord. But Isaiah gives gruesome details of what the beatings and crucifixion did to Him:
Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness — … He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 52:14, 53:3 NIV)
These verses are difficult to read and even harder to picture. But we can’t look away. We need to see and remember the awfulness so we never forget what Jesus endured for us. The impossibly high price of our sin displayed on a cross. Then the worst agony of all: the forsaking of the Son by the Father as the Almighty’s wrath, or just punishment for sin, was placed on Christ (Matt 27:46).
We can’t stay at the cross because Jesus didn’t. Neither it nor the grave were the end for Him. On the third day He rose victoriously over sin and death. But we need to visit Calvary, more than just on Good Friday, so we never lose sight of the greatest sacrifice every made.
Just something I’m troubled by and thankful for along the way.
