I know Christians all around the world just celebrated Jesus Christ coming back to life, achieving the impossible (Matthew 19:26). Neither am I trying to take away from the whole passion process which led up to Jesus Christ’s horrifyingly painful death on that cross. Furthermore, I am not dismissing the whole trial (in which people beat Him), or His whipping with the cat-o-nine tails, or again that Jesus Christ’s Physical Death On That Old Rugged Roman Cross. Yet, this is a new thing, a new perspective if you may, that can be added to a traditional human view of the cross that Jesus Christ died on. Bear with me, and hear me out before totally dismissing me.
I will quote the passage in the Holy Bible that comes from Matthew 27:45-46, 50-51 :
At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours. About three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” This means, “My God, My God, Why have You abandoned Me?”… But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died. Then the curtain in the temple was torn in two pieces, from top to bottom. Also, the earth shook and the rocks broke apart. (NCV)
Yes, the physical, emotional, and mental torture of having suffered on that Old Rugged Cross would be enough to kill all of humanity; however, I believe the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) within me caused me to look deeper several years ago into what caused Jesus Christ’s physical death. I believe that a soul’s connection with God is so spiritually important that it will cause you physical death if left untreated in this life. Just look at the words of Jesus in the prior quotation. After having both past, present, and future generations’ sin placed upon Him, He cried out:
My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me? (Matthew 27:46b, NCV)
And humanity is supposed to follow Christ as an example:
For this, you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. (1 Peter 2:21, ESV)
However, God in heaven is so holy that He can not look at the sin of any sort. Yet, God is so desiring of a relationship with humanity that He provided a way for us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, who made a once and eternal sacrifice for humanity. No more going to the priest once a year with a pure white lamb to take our place from being slaughtered to cleanse each one’s sin. No going to confessional where you have to tell a priest all your wrong doings since the last time you were in a confessional. That was taken care of when Jesus Christ death ripped the hefty curtain in two providing us with free access to God the Father. This is my take on what happened to Jesus Christ’s Physical Death On The Old Rugged Roman Cross Revisited…
*Just a little about me. I am no Theologian. I am no pastor. I am no Evangelist or Missionary who travels the world in seek of places without a Gospel influence. Yes, I am loving Jesus who provided me with a way to be with God the Father in heaven. Yes, I am a person who follows Jesus Christ taking His command of talk about Me to others and I will do the rest. Yes, I hold a position at a local church as an elder or leader for a gathering around an average of 100 people. And have graduated from a Christian college which I took my fair share of theology courses. Yet, God pursued me when I was 7 years of age to make Him the Lord and Master of my life, and He hasn’t let go. Even when I tempted fate at the age of 18 when I suffered a horrible car accident which left me fighting for my life, a month coma, in-patient rehab, outpatient rehab, and a traumatic brain injury which I am still feeling the effects from today (nearly 30 years afterward).
Maybe I am different, but is not what a True Life Christian is supposed to be? In fact, Jesus mentions us in His prayer to His Father in John 17, as I am going to quote verses 11-21:
I am coming to You; I will not stay in the world any longer. But they are still in the world. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me so that they will be One, just as You and I are One. While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me. I protected them, and the only one of them, the one worthy of destruction, was lost so that Scripture would come true. I am coming to You now. But I pray to You these things while I am still in the world so that these followers can have My joy in them. I have given them Your teaching. And the world has hated them because they don’t belong to the world, just as I don’t belong to the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world but to keep them safe from the Evil One. They don’t belong to the world just as I don’t belong to the world. Make them ready for Your service through Your truth; Your teaching is truth. I have sent them into the world, just as You sent Me into the world. For their sake, I am making Myself ready to serve so that they can be ready for their service of the truth. I pray for these followers, but I am also praying for those who believe in Me because of their teaching. Father, I pray that they can be as One. As You are in Me and I am in You, I pray that they can also be One in Us. Then the world would believe that You sent Me. (NCV)
For Peter when he was writing his epistle says this:
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps. (ESV)
No one could ever compare the suffering that Christ had to our momentary suffering even if it lasts a lifetime here on this physical earth. And I suppose there might be a minuscule amount of people that would dare to compare, but really there is no comparison to the horrifying death that Jesus encountered in which He went through untold physical, emotional, mental, and lastly spiritual torture from God abandoning Him. For we should pray for boldness as the apostles Peter and John as well as believers did in Acts of the Apostles 4:29-31 “to follow in His steps”:
“… And now, Lord, look on their threats and grant your servants to continue to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they prayed, the place they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness. (ESV)
Please like, comment (especially if you disagree with my outlook), or do both.
Please click on this link to the Old Rugged Cross sung by Alan Jackson:
TrueLifeChristianity.com 