HE+ FACED the Cross ALONE...

... so that we don't have to face anything  without  HIM+. 

+  +  +

Worthy is the LAMB+

Worthy is the LAMB+

Worthy is the LAMB+,

Slain from the foundation

of the world. 

Can GOD FORSAKE His Own ?

Drawing by Anon Artist

Precious SAVIOR!

Crucified!

No death is so thorough. No shame is so complete.

First, there was the scourging.

The scourging post was two feet high. An iron ring, placed close to the top, projected from both sides.

Clothing was ripped away... 

from a prisoner so that he stood naked. Roman lictors were

professionals. They confined their labours to the fine, 

brutal art of scourging, and they could beat a victim until 

only the barest spark of life remained in the prisoner.

Wrists were firmly shackled to the iron rings. Then the victim was stretched, face down, with his feet pointing away from the post.

The Roman scourge was a flagra, a short-handled whip consisting of several thin iron chains which ended in small weights.

Scourging was called the "little death". It preceded the 

"big death": Crucifixion.

Even the tension of awaiting the first blow is cruel. The body is rigid. The muscles knot in tormenting cramps. Colour drains from the cheeks. Lips are drawn tight against the teeth.

As the whip descends, the chains fan out across the back, and each link cuts through the skin and deep into the flesh. The weights crash with bruising force into the ribs and curl tortuously around the chest.

When a man is scourged... 

there is pain beyond the memory of pain. 

Sweat bursts from the brow and stings the eyes. 

At each stroke of the flagra, 

a victim's body twitches 

like a beheaded chicken. 

The second stroke 

patterns the back and half of the chest 

with a V-shaped network of small cuts. 

Only the Son+ of God 

could hold back the high-pitched wail 

of unbearable agony.

The very juice of life is torn away with every lash. There is only the blinding, burning pain as cruel whips whistle again and again through the air and across the back and shoulders. The flagra can flay a man alive.

Under Hebrew law, the strokes were limited to 39. 

Roman punishment was not so limited. 

There was only one rule for the lictor who scourged a man about to be crucified: he must not die. A spark of life must be sustained for the agony on the cross.

Men have bitten their tongues in two under such beatings.

Only blessed unconsciousness could bring relief.

The limp body of a victim... 

was cut away from the post. His wounds were washed but 

not otherwise medicated. The next step was the parade to 

the execution ground.

Roman politicians always liked to make examples of condemned men. The long, slow parade along public streets was designed to serve as a warning to others that Rome dealt quickly and mercilessly.

A centurion usually served as the executioner or carnifex servorum.

While four soldiers held the prisoner, 

he placed the sharp five-inch iron spike in the center of the palm of the hand. A skillful, experienced blow would send it through to the wood. Four to five more strokes would hammer the spike deep into the rough plank, and a final blow turned it up so that the hand could not slip free.

A small projection, resembling a rhinoceros horn and known as the "sedile" is fitted solidly through the crotch. This was fitted in order to take most of the weight off the condemned man's hands. Then a nail was driven through each foot.

It was a death reserved for slaves, thieves and traitors.

The wounds in the hands send fire down through the arms.

Fainting only relieves temporarily.

It is darkness and pain; then pain and darkness.

The pain in the back, arms, hands, feet and crotch is a dull, throbbing, horrible, endless pain. The pain builds up. It multiplies. 

It is cumulative.  

There is not one moment of respite.

The cross is planted so that the greatest amount of sunlight will pierce the prisoner's eyes.

Below, the curious crowd wait, fascinated by the torture. The macabre scene is played out slowly. Dying should be a private thing, not a public spectacle. There is something obscene about having a mob of people standing around, waiting for you to die.

Then the thirst begins.

The lips are dry. The mouth is parched. The blood is hot. The skin is fevered. The greatest of all needs at this moment is a drop of cool water.

Water is denied.

At the foot of the cross the death-squad drinks in the presence of the dying man, to add to his mental torment. The sun shines directly into the eyes of the crucified. Even when the eyelids are closed a red glare penetrates. The tongue thickens. What was once saliva is now like unloomed wool. Swelling begins in the hands and the feet. The sedile digs deeply into the genitals. It is impossible to turn, or to change one's position. Muscles begin to twitch.

The real horror is only beginning.

What has happened up until now is child's play.

One by one the muscles of the back gather in tight, knotty cramps. There is no escaping them, no pulling out of them, no gentle massaging hands to ease them away. They move across the shoulders and the thorax. They move down into the abdomen.

After two hours on a cross, every muscle in the body is locked in solid knots and the agony is beyond endurance. Men shriek themselves into insanity.

The pain and symptoms are identical to tetanus (lockjaw or the state of a muscle when undergoing continued contraction).

Man, with all his genius, has never devised a more cruel or more agonising death than that of tetanus - the slow, steady contraction of every muscle. 

Death by crucifixion makes the agony last as 

long as possible.

Each hour is an eternity.

At times the cramps make the neck rigid and the head is held flush against the vertical beam. A man longs for death. It is his only desire.

There are flies, insects, and the yelps of dogs with the smell of blood in their nostrils. Birds of prey, scavengers of the skies, circle lower and lower.

Prayers seem to mock a man, but you either pray or curse.

As the hours pass, the tiny blood vessels which feed the nerves will be squeezed flat, and with the lack of blood circulation comes a numbing paralysis.

A new agony develops ... for those who linger 

on the cross. 

It is the agony of the mucous membrane.

During crucifixion, the mucous membrane 

- that thin, slippery tissue 

which lines and lubricates much of the human body - 

dries to the consistency of fine gravel 

and scrapes the tender tissues of the anus 

(the posterior opening of the alimentary canal).

The dried membranes 

tear at the tortured throat. 

They lie like stones in the sinuses. 

Layers of tissue are ripped from the eyes 

every time 

they are moved or blinked.

On the cross there is no end of suffering. It is only the manner of suffering that changes, and the degree of pain that changes.

As the hours passed, soldiers were inclined to hasten death. They began breaking bones. Standing on a ladder, a practised legionnaire would swing a mallet in a short arc and shatter the right femur (the thigh-bone) instantly. A second, sharp blow would shatter the left thigh. These were new pains.

Could there ever be more intense suffering this side of hell?

Most condemned men died naked.

JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED. HE+ died the most brutal death ever devised by man.

HE+ took my place. It was my sin that sent Him+ there.

JESUS died the most thorough death ever devised. It was designed to allow the slow death-erosion of cell, muscle, emotion, bone, tissue, mind, spirit, blood and heart-beat. 

CHRIST was crucified, states the Scripture. HE+ did it all for you and me...

Thus the victory 

of the Resurrection 

is the most complete victory 

ever recorded.

Up from the grave 
HE+ arose,

With a mighty triumph 
o'er His+ foes;

HE+ arose a VICTOR+ 
from the dark domain,

And HE+ lives forever 
with His+ saints to reign.

HE+ arose! 

HE+ arose!

Hallelujah! 

CHRIST arose!

No further sacrifice for my sins is needed.

JESUS paid it ALL.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:17-24

by C. M. Ward (Sydney)
www.cai.org

The Crucifixion at Passover.... 2000 years ago

The Crucifixion at Passover…

This year… this year… Passover and the Crucifixion of the True Passover Lamb, the LAMB OF GOD Who+ takes away the sin of the world, fall right in line with the timeframe found in Scripture.

This connection of Passover to the Crucifixion is crucial for the understanding of the events of Holy Week.

Passover this year started on Wednesday evening at the time of the evening sacrifice of the Passover lamb in the Temple… at 3 p.m.

Our LORD JESUS CHRIST was our Passover Lamb. Thus HE+ would have died at 3 p.m. Wednesday--- crying out--- “It is finished, FATHER! Into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.”

That means HE+ would have been crucified for us at 9 a.m. Wednesday [not Friday] morning… the time of the regular morning sacrifice in the Temple.

The Last Supper would have fallen on Tuesday evening. His+ agony in the garden, sweating drops of Blood, would have happened Tuesday night. Peter would have denied the LORD Tuesday night and the other disciples would have fled then. Our LORD’S unjust trial would have been early Wednesday morning.

The Jews who were anxious to crucify The LORD were likewise anxious to get His+ body down from the cross before Passover so as not to “defile the land.”

That’s when Joseph of Arimathea… a rich merchant… obtained the body of JESUS. He and Nicodemus wrapped it in a linen cloth and 100-weight of myrrh and aloes, and laid His+ body in a new tomb. And left it there as the HIGH HOLY DAY of Passover was drawing nigh. (John 19).

COUNT: Wednesday night--- one night.

The HIGH HOLY DAY of Passover on Thursday… was considered a High Sabbath… no work was to be done. And certainly, no dead body was to be touched. The grieving sisters rested on Thursday.

COUNT: Thursday--- day one.

After Thursday came… Thursday night.

COUNT: Thursday night--- two nights

Friday dawned.

COUNT: Friday day--- day two

Friday was the day of preparation for the normal weekly Sabbath on Saturday. We read that the grieving sisters prepared spices for His+ body “…on the day of preparation” which came before every Sabbath.


COUNT: Friday night --- third night

Then came the regular Sabbath on Saturday and the sisters “rested” because it was the Sabbath. [Luke 23:56]

COUNT: Saturday--- day three

The timeframe this year of the crucifixion coincides precisely with the Jews’ Passover timeframe… exactly as it happened in the Scriptural accounts in the Gospels.

By evening of the Jews’ Saturday Sabbath, The LORD JESUS CHRIST AROSE FROM THE REALM OF THE DEAD.

The Sisters and the Disciples did NOT see HIM+ until early Sunday morning, a little before dawn ! [John 20:1]

But they were not allowed to touch HIM+ until after HE+ had ascended in His+ glorified Body to His+ FATHER Who is in the Heavens, hallowed is HIS Name!

AMEN!!

Bless GOD!

FATHER, SON+, and HOLY SPIRIT!
And, blessed be HIS Kingdom, both now and forever.
Amen!

<(((><

Yes, we do join with the church world at large to commemorate the crucifixion of Our LORD JESUS CHRIST on “Good Friday” … but we don’t count the 3 nights and 3 days HE+ was in the heart of the earth in that same, erroneous way, unconnected for the most part to Passover.

This year, the accuracy of Scripture

is able to be seen

...clearly.

+ + +

HOLY WEEK ~ ~ ~ Crucifixion Day ~ or, Good Friday

Holy Week ~ ~ ~ The Day HE+ Was Crucified ~ ~ ~

(Known to the Church as GOOD FRIDAY)

A Week of Two Sabbaths

Or, Why Can’t Christians Count to 3, Twice ?





The LORD JESUS said HE+ would be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. HE+ was speaking most accurately, as HE+ always did. HE+ meant exactly what HE+ said. A school child can count 3 days and likewise 3 nights. Why can’t we?

Christians need to count like the Hebrews counted and take The LORD’S words to heart. Everything connected with Our LORD JESUS CHRIST was not only accurately predicted but it was most precisely accomplished… down to the utmost detail… including the timing of His+ death and Resurrection. Would Our Heavenly FATHER, Who set in motion the earth, sun, moon, and stars so accurately that their movements correct the clocks of mankind, be imprecise about any details connected with His+ Precious SON’S death and Resurrection ?

Let us look at the crucifixion scene.

Passover days, High Holy days, and Sabbaths all entered into the Passion Week of Our LORD. Coinciding with the Temple Sacrifices in the morning (9 a.m.) and evening (3 p.m.) was the Crucifixion and Finished Work of the Cross. The animal sacrifices set up during the time of Moses were established by GOD to be at the exact time of the beginning and ending of His+ Crucifixion. It was established that precise way to point to CHRIST.

Alfred Ederscheim, the historian, noted that about a million people would gather in Jerusalem during Passover. Naturally-speaking, sacrificing one million lambs would take a lot of time and, naturally-speaking, couldn’t be done on one day. Thus, the Passover sacrifices began a few days earlier in the Passover week and those in the Covenant of the Jews were permitted to partake of the Passover Meal at that time.

Thus, in order for the True LAMB+ of GOD to be sacrificed exactly on the Day of the Passover, HE+ had to partake of the Meal the evening before the day of the actual Passover. Passover began in the evening, at 3 p.m., as did all Jewish Days. If we are going to count as the Jews did… and Our LORD JESUS did… we must start counting the day when it began...on the evening before, at 3 p.m, the time of the evening sacrifice.

We will be in error if we follow the Western Civilization’s method of counting days which goes from 12 a.m. (midnight) through 12 noon to 11:59 p.m. The Jewish way of counting days is: evening-night time-day time.

HE+ did partake of the Last Passover Meal; we know the story well. After that Meal, it was night. HE+ entered the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The intensity of the ordeal was so great that Our Savior began sweating drops of blood.

O thank You, Precious Savior, for going through this agony for me, for us, for whosoever wants to be near You in Heaven and through all eternity.

This is NOT counted as the “first night” in the “heart of the earth.” Our LORD, we see plainly, was still ON the earth, like as we are, preparing to offer HIMSELF as the Sacrificial LAMB+ on our behalf.

After His+ time in the Garden of Gethsemane, Our LORD was taken. It was still night. After that hideous night-time trial and mistreatment, Our LORD JESUS, our innocent LAMB without spot or blemish before GOD and man, was crucified at the time of the morning sacrifice in the Temple. HE+ was crucified on the High Holy Day of Passover. This does NOT count as one of the “days” in the heart of the earth. He+ was ON the earth, going through the agony of the Cross, battered and beaten but still in earthly human form.

O HOLY FATHER, how we thank THEE for giving us Thy SON. O Precious JESUS, we thank THEE+ for being willing to be given for us, unworthy creatures all, including me.

Precision. At precisely the time of the evening sacrifice, 3 p.m., the Finished Work of the Cross was completed. HE+ cried, “IT IS FINISHED, FATHER. INTO THY HANDS I COMMIT MY+ SPIRIT.” Our dear Savior’s earthly body died on the cross.

Thank You, Precious LORD JESUS. Thank You. Thank You for Your willingness to die for me, for us, for the entire race of mankind… whosoever will come. We would be lost without Your Costly Sacrifice of Your Life, precisely given at the Time Appointed by The FATHER.

Thus, at 3 p.m. at the precise beginning of Passover our LORD+ cried out and yielded HIS+ Spirit to HIS+ FATHER. Our LORD’S dead body was then laid in Joseph of Arimathea’s newly-carved tomb… and HIS+ Victorious Self entered into the heart of the earth, unbarring the Gates of Hell (Sheol). This was the FIRST NIGHT HE+ spent in the heart of the earth.

The following day after the crucifixion no work was done because it was the day time of the Passover. It was a High Sabbath, a High Holy Day. Keep in mind that Passover started at 3 p.m. the evening before when HE+ Finished the Work on the Cross. That is why the priests did not want to go into Pontius Pilate’s Judgment Hall; they would be unclean and could not celebrate the coming Passover. Thus, Pilate came out to them. This was the FIRST DAY He+ spent in the heart of the earth.

At 3 p.m. of Passover day-time began the second night HE+ spent in the heart of the earth. As the sun arose, this was a day of “preparation” for the regular weekly Sabbath. On this day of preparation, the women who followed Our LORD JESUS went to the market, bought spices, and prepared them for the dead body of Our LORD. This day of preparation activities became the second day HE+ spent in the heart of the earth.

At 3 p.m. on this second day, the Third Night HE+ spent in the heart of the earth began. The Jews began their weekly Sabbath then. The women who bought and prepared spices for His+ dead body, rested. They did no work after 3 p.m. that night, nor through the daylight hours of the ensuing day time, as it was commanded them to keep the Sabbath. The Third Day HE+ spent in the heart of the earth was the regular Jewish Sabbath.


So, from the Gospel accounts, we see Our LORD spent two Sabbaths: a High Holy Day (Passover) and the regular weekly Sabbath in the heart of the earth. HE+ also spent the day of preparation which fell between the two Sabbaths in the heart of the earth.

For the sake of clarity, let us put these times on our westernized calendar. HE+ ate the Last Passover Meal on Tuesday evening. That night, HE+ was taken from the Garden of Gethsemane and brought before Pontius Pilate. On Wednesday, HE+ was crucified at 9 a.m., the time of the morning sacrifice in the Temple.

He died on the cross at 3 p.m., the time of the evening sacrifice. Wednesday night was FIRST NIGHT.

Thursday day would have been Passover day time, a High Holy Sabbath. That was the FIRST DAY.

Thursday night would have then been the SECOND NIGHT.

Friday day (the day of the preparation) was the SECOND DAY.

Friday night, at 3 p.m., was the beginning of the Jews’ regular weekly Sabbath. Friday night was the THIRD NIGHT.

Saturday, the Jews’ weekly Sabbath day time, was His+ THIRD DAY in the heart of the earth.

When did HE+ arise? Scripture doesn’t pinpoint that precise moment. Scripture says that HE+ was seen early on the first day of the week… which would have been quite early Sunday morning.

Being consistent with the precise timing found in Scripture, it was likely HE+ came out of the heart of the earth when HE+ said HE+ did: precisely after 3 nights and 3 days in the heart of the earth. That would place His+ removal from the heart of the earth at precisely 3 p.m. on Saturday evening... at the end of the Jewish Sabbath... which is what the Gospel accounts record.


So… why don’t we be accurate and keep “Good Tuesday” instead of “Good Friday”?

We at the Order of the GOOD SHEPHERD personally mark the time, but we join with the church systems and put black on our cross on Friday and do the Good Friday services. We do this only to avoid causing confusion to the non-Christian (and Christian, more's the pity) world. May the LORD help us all to be unified and loving in our witness.

The important thing is to remember What HE+ did… and why.

In the name of the FATHER, the SON+, and the HOLY SPIRIT.
Amen
+ + +