Two of us found the inmate downed on the floor yesterday. The inmates were about to eat breakfast, when this man all of a sudden fell forward. He must have gotten dizzy. He fell like a tree. His face was on the floor, the body slightly twisted, with his pale arms out. A pool of blood was visible where his head landed. Fear gripped both of us, nurses, thinking at first, that he had sustained a severe head injury. But he was alert and was answering appropriately.
“Don’t move!” I commanded as he tried to go back to a neutral position. The other nurse requested one of the deputies to hold his head firmly to prevent it from being moved around. It was difficult for us to apply the neck brace with the pool of blood sitting on the way. I found a deep gash under his chin and I knew, the blood came from that and that there was a possibility now that he must have loosened his teeth. I applied a dressing and we just called for the ambulance to send him out. And when they came, the man was put on a board and was taken immediately to the county’s ER.
The deputies who saw the amount of blood looked disgusted as they saw it. They knew this man was hurt awfully bad with that fall.
“I have never seen anything like that amount of blood in a while!” commented one. I wasn’t saying anything, as was with the other nurse. We were both just trying to comfort the downed inmate.
Blood…Same blood shed by Jesus…Yet, no one was disgusted at that time he was crucified. The same people screaming “Hosanna!” when Jesus entered Jerusalem were the same ones screaming “crucify him!” to Pilate, few days later. Even though he wasn’t found guilty of any crimes. He was flogged, spat on, his head crowned with prickly thorns and was crucified. Jesus, yes, Jesus, not a criminal….bled to death…
But people didn't know that it was blood…was God’s plan to become the atonement for humanity’s sins. It was through His own Son’s blood that His forgiveness became available. Jesus’ blood became the sacrifice and made forgiveness of sins possible. We know now that blood gives life! How many times do you hear about blood donation drives as many hospitals are having low supply of blood to those needing transfusions who have injuries where they lost some good amount. It is the same with our Lord Jesus Christ. Through His blood, we gain eternal life!
“11 for the life of any creature is in its blood. I have given you the blood so you can make atonement for your sins. It is the blood, representing life, that brings you atonement.” - Leviticus 17:11
“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” - Matthew 26:28
“In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” - Ephesians 1:7
“But now in Christ Jesus you once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” - Ephesians 2:13
Are you like those people and Pilate who never stood up for what was right? We are like Pilate when we know what is right but decide not to do it. Have you accepted Jesus into your heart and believe that He truly died on the cross to save you from your sins? Your right decision might have unpleasant consequences but I guarantee you, that life with Jesus, you will be forever changed! Being "saved" means you realize you're a sinner and that there is nothing you can do on your own to save yourself. It is only by God's grace, through Christ's blood and your faith that saves you. If you understand this, there is a prayer on my side bar you can pray and with the right condition of your heart, pray that out loud....Receive God's forgiveness today...Receive the life giving power of His blood!
30 DAYS OF THANKSGIVING - 14
7 hours ago
Oh Rosel ~
ReplyDeletePraising HIM that HE chose the nails for me, for you, for our families, for all of us....He does love us sooo but as Max said....the list of our sins were before HIM. Will we ever grasp the depth of that love, of the sacrifice HE made for us....Thank you Jesus and may we all know the power of HIS blood!
I love this post. It reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the Bible: Revelation 12:11 "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."
ReplyDeleteSo grateful for the Blood of the Lamb!
Have a blessed day Rosel!
Lisa
Wow what a post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The moment you said...the same blood. I got it. Much love to you my sister!
ReplyDeleteYet, no one was disgusted at that time he was crucified. The same people screaming “Hosanna!” when Jesus entered Jerusalem were the same ones screaming “crucify him!” to Pilate, few days later
ReplyDeleteWhile at Mass yesterday we had the readings of His procession into Jerusalem than they reenacted from the readings of his being handed over by Judas..with a kiss! Peter's denial, and finally our Lord's death on the cross...
I thought the same thing that you wrote about. Here they are crying out Hosanna,,and in four days time they will be screaming crucify Him.
I am so grateful for the precious blood of Jesus...every drop! Have a great day, Rosel.
ReplyDeleteLove you,
Mary
By his stripes we are healed.
ReplyDeletePraise be to God!
Oh, Rosel! This is such a beautiful post. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered would I had stood up for Jesus as He was being flogged, beaten to a bloody pulp, spat upon, mocked, etc. We all know Pilate conformed to what the people wanted. Being a non-conformist myself, except to God's teachings, I would have said "YES!" But, would I really? I honestly don't know with what I now know. I'm not sure if I would have understood the depth of His passion then at the time or not. I suppose it doesn't matter now since I have said "YES!" to Jesus. Now, I would stand up for Him because I do understand the depth of His passion. I would die for Him!
Again, thank you for posting this! It really touched my heart. Have a blessed rest of the day, my sweet friend! Love ya!!
Such a powerful post sis.
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful that He shed His blood for ME.
ReplyDeleteSuch a powerful post. I am soo grateful for the blood He shed for me. I heard it preached once that even if I had been the ONLY one He would have needed to die for He would have still shed all of His blood just for me. Soo overwhelming. It is hard to get my head totally around the depth of that love sometimes. Thanks for this inspiring post. Hugs, Debbie
ReplyDeleteSorry Rosel....this is long, BUT "we" must understand it takes more than nails and thorns to save us!!
ReplyDeleteTo obtain the salvation of His people, Christ not only suffered the terrifying abandonment of God, but He drank down the bitter cup of God’s wrath and died a bloody death in the place of His people. Only then could divine justice be satisfied, the wrath of God be appeased, and reconciliation be made possible.
In the garden, Christ prayed three times for “the cup” to be removed from Him, but each time His will gave into that of His Father. We must ask ourselves, what was in the cup that caused Him to pray so fervently? What did it contain that caused Him such anguish that His sweat was mingled with blood? It is often said that the cup represented the cruel Roman cross and the physical torture that awaited Him; that Christ foresaw the cat of nine tails coming down across His back, the crown of thorns piercing His brow, and the primitive nails driven through His hands and feet. Yet those who see these things as the source of His anguish do not understand the Cross, nor what happened there. Although the tortures heaped upon Him by the hands of men were all part of God’s redemptive plan, there was something much more ominous that evoked the Messiah’s cry for deliverance.
In the first centuries of the primitive church, thousands of Christians died on crosses. It is said that Nero crucified them upside down, covered them with tar, and set them aflame to provide street lights for the city of Rome. Throughout the ages since then, a countless stream ofChristians have been led off to the most unspeakable tortures, and yet it is the testimony of friend and foe alike that many of them went to their death with great boldness. Are we to believe that the followers of the Messiah met such cruel physical death with joy unspeakable, while the Captain of their Salvation cowered in a garden, feigning the same torture? Did the Christ of God fear whips and thorns, crosses and spears, or did the cup represent a terror infinitely beyond the greatest cruelty of men?
To understand the ominous contents of the cup, we must refer to the Scriptures. There are two passages in particular that we must consider - one from the Psalms and the other from the Prophets:
“For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine foams; It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; surely all the wicked of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.”
“For thus the LORD, the God of Israel says to me, ‘Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.’”
As a result of the unceasing rebellion of the wicked, the justice of God had decreed judgment against them. He would rightly pour forth His indignation upon the nations. He would put the cup of the wine of His wrath to their mouth and force them to drink it down to the dregs. The mere thought of such a fate awaiting the world is absolutely terrifying, yet this would have been the fate of all, except that the mercy of God sought for the salvation of a people, and the wisdom of God devised a plan of redemption even before the foundation of the world. The Son of God would become a man and walk upon the earth in perfect obedience to the Law of God. He would be like us in all things, and tempted in all ways like us but without sin. He would live a perfectly
ReplyDeleterighteous life for the glory of God and in the stead of His people. Then in the appointed time, He would be crucified by the hands of wicked men, and on that Cross, He would bear His people’s guilt, and suffer the wrath of God against them. The perfect Son of God and a true Son of Adam together in one glorious person would take the bitter cup of wrath from the very hand of God and drink it down to the dregs. He would drink until “it was finished” and the justice of God was fully satisfied. The divine wrath that should have been ours would be exhausted upon the Son, and by Him, it would be extinguished.
Imagine an immense dam that is filled to the brim and straining against the weight behind it. All at once, the protective wall is pulled away and the massive destructive power of the deluge is unleashed. As certain destruction races toward a small village in the nearby valley, the ground suddenly opens up before it and drinks down that which would have carried it away. In similar fashion, the judgment of God was rightly racing toward every man. Escape could not be found on the highest hill or in the deepest abyss. The fleetest of foot could not outrun it, nor could the strongest swimmer endure its torrents. The dam was breached and nothing could repair its ruin. But when every human hope was exhausted, at the appointed time, the Son of God interposed. He stood between divine justice and His people. He drank down the wrath that they themselves had kindled and the punishment they deserved. When He died, not one drop of the former deluge remained. He drank it all!
Imagine two giant millstones, one turning on top of the other. Imagine that caught between the two is a single grain of wheat that is pulled under the massive weight. First, its hull is crushed beyond recognition, and then its inwards parts are poured out and ground into dust. There is no hope of retrieval or reconstruction. All is lost and beyond repair. Thus, in a similar fashion, “it pleased the Lord” to crush His only Son and put Him to grief unspeakable. Thus, it pleased the Son to submit to such suffering in order that God might be glorified and a people might be redeemed. It is not that God found some gleeful pleasure in the suffering of His beloved Son, but through His death, the will of God was accomplished. No other means had the power to put away sin, satisfy divine justice, and appease the wrath of God against us. Unless that divine grain of
wheat had fallen to the ground and died, it would have abided alone without a people or a bride. The pleasure was not found in the suffering, but in all that such suffering would accomplish: God would be revealed in a glory yet unknown to men or angels, and a people would be brought into unhindered fellowship with their God.
In one of the most epic stories in the Old Testament, the patriarch Abraham is commanded to carry his son Isaac to Mount Moriah, and there, to offer him as a sacrifice to God.
ReplyDelete“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
What a burden was laid upon Abraham! We cannot even begin to imagine the sadness that filled the old man’s heart and tortured him every step of his journey. The Scriptures are careful to tell us that he was commanded to offer “his son, his only son, whom he loved.” The specificity seems designed to catch our attention and make us think that there is more meaning hidden in these words than we can yet tell.
On the third day, the two reached the appointed place, and the father himself bound his beloved son with his own hand. Finally, in submission to what must be done, he laid his hand upon his son’s brow and “took the knife to slay him.” At that very moment, the mercy and grace of God interposed, and the old man’s hand was stayed. God called out to him from heaven and said:
“Abraham, Abraham! ...Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing
to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your
only son, from Me.”
At the voice of the Lord, Abraham raised his eyes, and found a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. He took the ram and offered him up in the place of his son. He then named that place YHWH-jireh or “The Lord will provide.” It is a faithful saying that remains until this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” As the curtains draw to a close on this epic moment in history, not only Abraham, but also everyone who has ever read this account breathes a sigh of relief that the boy is spared. We think to ourselves what a beautiful end to the story, but it was not the end, it was a mere intermission!
Two thousand years later, the curtain opens again. The background is dark and ominous.
ReplyDeleteAt center stage is the Son of God on Mount Calvary. He is bound by obedience to the will of His Father. He hangs there bearing the sin of His people. He is accursed - betrayed by His
creation and forsaken of God. Then, the silence is broken with the horrifying thunder of God’s wrath. The Father takes the knife, draws back His arm, and slays “His Son, His only Son, whom He loves.” And the words of Isaiah the prophet are fulfilled:
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed
Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed... But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief.”
The curtain is drawn to a close on a slain Son and a crucified Messiah. Unlike Isaac there was no ram to die in His place. He was the Lamb who would die for the sins of the world. He is God’s provision for the redemption of His people. He is the fulfillment of which Isaac and the ram were only shadows. In Him, Mount Calvary is renamed “YHWH-jireh” or “The Lord will provide.” And it is a faithful saying that remains until this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.” Calvary was the mount and salvation was provided. Thus, the discerning believer cries out, “God, God, I know you love me since you have not withheld your Son, your only Son, whom You love, from me.”
It is an injustice to Calvary that the true pain of the Cross is often overlooked by a more romantic, but less powerful theme. It is often thought and even preached that the Father looked down from heaven and witnessed the suffering that was heaped upon His Son by the hands of men, and that He counted such affliction as payment for our sins. This is heresy of the worst kind. Christ satisfied divine justice not merely by enduring the affliction of men, but by enduring and dying under the wrath of God. It takes more than crosses, nails, crowns of thorns, and lances, to pay for sin. The believer is saved, not merely because of what men did to Christ on the Cross, but because of what God did to Him - He crushed Him under the full force of His wrath against us. Rarely is this truth made clear enough in the abundance of all our Gospel preaching!
What Jesus went through for us! Amazing.
ReplyDeleteRosel,
ReplyDeleteA step away from blogging and into friendship for a moment. I know without a doubt that there were days that you lifted up prayer for me and without much information on my end, you knew of a battle going on here. I can say that the battle is passing and I am forever thankful to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for bringing me closer to Him. I have to thank Him for YOU and your stories as they had a part in this healing and guidance. I am so thankful that in the midst of our very human nature, He rises above us and uses us to edify each other. Thank you for the support you showed during a very serious trial in my little corner of the world and for showing me another face of our Lords love. You have given me a wonderful gift. I do call you friend.
Cherie
Thank you for focusing us on the importance of the blood of Christ in our redemption and salvation. I love also Hebrews 9:11-14, "When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" Praise the Lord! Brian
ReplyDeleteBro. Ike: I appreciate your input here.There is no long comment when it comes to bringing out the truth in what our Savior had done. I'm so thankful that the barrier had been broken [as signified by the thick veil being torn into two]between God and humanity at Christ's death.
ReplyDeleteWe know that Jesus could have easily saved himself but instead, endured this suffering because of His love for us. Yes, He suffered through it all because He loved even His enemies.
Thank you bro. Ike and to all of you for your "footprints"...God bless.
You are awesome! Thanks for your ministry. I have read the Lucado book but have never seen this video. It is hard to watch. Bless you, friend. ~
ReplyDeleteSweet Sister,
ReplyDeleteSuch a powerful post my friend. I have been thinking so much about the pain He endured for all of us...so very much. The blood He shed for all of us...tears stream down my cheeks in awe of such a wonderful Lord and Savior.
Thank you for blessing me here today. I love you so much.
Big Hugs,
Alleluiabelle
Powerful & convicting to think that with his blood He purchased men for God! I'm so thankful that we understand that & can point others to Him! Happy Easter precious sister!
ReplyDeleteWylie
by His stripes...I am so grateful for what He did....Tons of blessings Rosel. Your words always inspire. Sarah
ReplyDeleteThe power to forgive sins can only be found in the righteous blood of God. Only His blood has the power to cleanse us and wash our sin away. Not only my sin but the sin of the whole world! Absolutely amazing!! :) Great post Rosel
ReplyDeletePraise God from whom ALL blessings flow. This is my first visit to your blog and I can feel the Lords presence in your words. Easter blessings. Dee
ReplyDelete