Prioritizing Priorities

Prioritizing Priorities

We all recognize that priorities are important, but few of us actually prioritize our lives.  At least, that’s the way it seems to me.  (And I count myself among the guilty!)

If asked what is truly important in our life, we could provide excellent answers: God, family, health, home, security, freedom, etc.  Yet often our day-to-day decisions don’t line up with the top items on our self-proclaimed priority list.

Why is this so?  We’re logical, practical people; why are those key items we deem critical so commonly neglected and even downright disregarded – overshadowed by so many lesser things?

There are many factors, of course.  But ultimately the root causes are brought on by the unholy trio of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature (flesh).  Satan enthralls our sinful natures with the wonders, pleasures, and responsibilities of the world, leading us effectively and easily away from pursuing the truly significant things.  Satan is the ultimate deceiver and distractor, and sadly we are easily dissuaded.

Consequently, we are constantly chasing after the “urgent” in our lives instead of devoting ourselves to the “important.”  Typically the “urgents” overwhelm us, receiving tremendous attention, while the “importants” quietly recede into the background.

Or to say it another way, we focus a tremendous amount of time and energy on “nick-nacks” rather than on true “treasures.”  And this leaves us frustrated and somewhat discombobulated.  We realize innately that our focus is misplaced and our emphasis off.

Thankfully, our Lord never mixes up his priorities.  And we are one of his top treasures!  The One who created the cosmos and orchestrates the world’s events – both great and small – made our salvation a top priority.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Furthermore, our loving Lord is with us every second of our lives.  He provides for us, protects us, guides us, and blesses us (Jer. 17.7).  How fortunate we are to be at the top of God’s priority list!

So how do we recognize the highest priorities in our lives?  And a more challenging question: how we do we live properly prioritized lives?

Here’s an exercise to evaluate our top priorities, and the order of those priorities.  It’s a variation of a process someone shared with me once.

Think of your priorities as personal treasures.  Now imagine yourself ruled by a king.  The king is powerful, and he is greedy.  He demands all your treasures … except for 10 items. 

What 10 treasures would you keep?  Take your time and think this out.  You must be specific, and you can only retain 10.  Recognize that treasures can also be spiritual or non-tangible.  Write your choices down.

Now imagine that this greedy king decides he wants more, so you have to give up another treasure.  Now you’ll be down to 9.  What will you give up?  Record your decision.

Repeat the process until you whittle your treasures down to one item.  (This process becomes increasingly agonizing as you go along!)  But after making your final decision, you are left with the top priority in your life!  The rest of the order of your treasures/priorities has also been established in descending order by the choices you made along the way. 

I trust that the Lord, his Word, and your faith rank highly on your list in some manner!  As Jesus himself reminded us, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

If you don’t care for my suggested approach, do an online search for setting priorities.  You’ll find many other alternatives.  The key is that you identify what your top priorities are.

Well done!  Your priorities are established.  But now the real challenge begins.  How do you live your life properly reflecting your top priorities?  How do the treasures you identified receive the daily recognition they deserve?

Here are a few suggestions to maintain course:

1. Print your list of priorities and display it in prominent places where you will see it and be reminded of what is truly important to you.

2. Commit to necessary changes. Simply noting your priorities won’t automatically translate into keeping those priorities; deliberate adjustments are needed.

3. Organization and self-established structure will help safeguard your priorities. Ranked sub-categories under your main points will help clarify your focus even more.

4. Set a schedule and routine that incorporates and supports your top priorities. Set times for specific key tasks, and hold to them.

5. Routinely address the most important things (your “treasures”) first. If less important things don’t get done, they don’t get done.  But you will still have given due attention to what’s most important to you.

6. Share your priorities with others who will encourage you and will hold you accountable.

7. Recognize that priorities can change over time, so reevaluate occasionally.

Establishing priorities … and living according to them … really should be a priority for all of us.  Because our “treasures” need to be properly treasured!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here are some wise Biblical words from an exceptionally wise man named Solomon.  The point of sharing these words is not to demonstrate that everything in this world is meaningless, but that many of the things to which we devote our time and energy are actually not so important.

Ecclesiastes 1:12-14
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens. What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:22-26
What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness …

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Always in View

Always in View

For the first time in my life, I was on the jumbo screen at a major league ballpark!  It happened just a week ago.

It’s not like this was a “bucket list” accomplishment – a crowning achievement I always dreamed of doing – but it was a first nevertheless.

To be fair, my son was also on the screen.  In fact, he has already argued that the focus of the camera was on him, and not on me.  (He may be right.)  Though we were both clearly and closely displayed as the 30,000 or so fans in attendance sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the “seventh inning stretch” at the Seattle Mariners game.

If you have ever been at a stadium for a professional game, you have seen the shots of different fans on the huge “jumbotron.”  Almost without fail, as soon as the people displayed on the screen see themselves, they lose all semblance of self-control – typically jumping up-and-down, yelling at their companions, pointing wildly at the screen and waving hysterically. 

For the record, I did none of those things except yell at my son, “We’re on the screen,” and wave calmly.  (Okay, I guess technically that is actually some of those things.)

An interesting sidenote – and this is the absolute truth – I had already decided that evening that this week’s blog post was going to be about being on the big screens in ballparks.  And then we were actually on it ourselves!  I took that as an affirmation from the Lord that this should indeed be my focus this week.

The first thing we need to agree upon is this: people are always incredibly excited when they appear on the video screen at a stadium.  Without exception, the people displayed respond excitedly, joyfully, and animatedly. They beam; they preen; they smile; they gleam!  They strut and bounce and gesture excitedly.  They laugh.  It’s like they have never been happier; their day is made!  In fact, it almost seems as if their life is now fulfilled.

I realize those are some radical descriptions, but if you have ever watched the people displayed on the jumbo screen – and if you have ever been at a ballgame, you have indeed watched – then you recognize my descriptions are apt.

In fact, organizations realize that showing fans for all to see is one of the favorite parts of the ballpark experience.  Don’t do it and people would miss it.  Probably miss it badly.  Don’t do it and the team itself is missing out on a major fun factor for the crowd.

If you doubt the importance people put on the fans pictured on the giant monitor, consider this.  I found it nearly impossible to find any pictures of jumbo screens displaying people waving.  Locating pictures of almost anything usually isn’t difficult.  But I found virtually none of fans on stadium boards.  There were plenty of shots of players, but hardly any of fans.

I wondered why this would be.  My conclusion: everyone is watching the screen devotedly to see if they make it onto the screen, or to watch the antics of those who do make it, so no one ever takes the time to take any pictures of people on the screen!  (I’m not sure if that’s actually the reason, but that’s my theory and I’m sticking to it.)

So why are we even discussing this at all?  Why did I decide to center this post on the huge video boards at stadiums?  What struck me during the recent Mariners game is this thought: we are always on God’s jumbo screen!  We are always in his view!

What does that mean to us?  It means we can be extremely excited.  Animated even.  Joyful! 

No matter our situation, God has us in huge-screen focus.  Even if we are alone or lonely; troubled, struggling or discouraged; beaten down, exhausted and weak; uncertain, scared or in danger, the loving Lord has us in view.  And he doesn’t just watch us, he actively intervenes in our lives!

As the psalmist clearly states, “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him [that is, honor him], on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them … We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.  In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name” (Psalm 33:18-21).

The concept is repeated throughout the Scriptures.  (See 2 Chron. 16:9, Ps. 34:15, Prov. 15:3, and 1 Pet. 3:12.)  The Lord’s loving eyes are always on us; we are constantly displayed on his personal “big screen!”

So wave to Him.  Jump up and down excitedly!  Overflow with obvious and abundant joy … always!  Because our loving Lord has you and me always in view.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Psalm 139:1-18

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.

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Two Years? Really?

Two Years? Really?

In the heart of the pandemic, in the hopes of encouraging God’s people in a difficult time, I began this blog.  It wasn’t my longtime dream to tackle something like this.  In fact, it never would have crossed my mind.  Yet the Lord unexpectedly laid it on my heart to tackle it.  Doing so during COVID seemed to be an opportunity to possibly bless some people somewhere, sometimes, in some way. 

Friday, April 22, 2022 marked the two-year anniversary of the launching of this blog.  Every week along the way I have shared at least one new post.  The Easter article last Saturday was the 110th one. 

I pray that “Heading to Heaven” has blessed someone somewhere at some time.  I pray it has blessed you at some point.  I know I have been blessed through my preparation and writing each week, and I have been encouraged by everyone who has read a post, and especially by those who have subscribed and those who have commented.  A sincere thank you to you all.

And thanks be to our gracious God.  Truly, all glory goes to Him for anything good that has come from this endeavor!

If you don’t already subscribe to the blog, please consider doing so.  Subscribing is free, and brings each new post directly to your email box.  Perhaps something I share will arrive at just the right time and encourage you?  Every new subscriber really is an encouragement to me.  If you are inclined to follow this blog, I would be honored.  The info on how do so is immediately below.

Here’s to embarking on year 3, with the Lord as our Pilot!  Thanks, everyone, for joining me on the journey!

How to Interact on This Blog

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Trust Me

Trust Me

“Trust me,” the Lord says.

“I do!” we answer.  But we don’t.  Not really.

Oh, in theory we do.  We think we do.  We certainly intend to; we want to!  In heartfelt words we will attest to our trust in our God.  And to some degree we do lean on the Lord. 

But our actions, our thoughts, our anxiety and our worries betray us.  Our tossing and turning in bed at night and our frantic efforts in the day tell a different tale.  True trust shows itself in mellow minds, peaceful hearts, and calm demeanors.  Those attributes don’t apply to many of us … at least not all the time.  Probably not even most of the time.

Totally trusting God is so difficult to do!

Trusting God doesn’t come naturally.  And especially in this world roiling in uncertainties!  If  we only knew in advance how the Lord would handle the situations in our life, we could relax – we would “trust.”  But knowing the answers in advance is not trust.  Rather, trust is knowing that the Lord will provide the answers … even when they are still hidden.

Not many of us excel at true trust.

There are several significant reasons we struggle to rely completely on the Lord’s provision and protection.  First of all, we are physical creatures existing in a physical world.  Consequently, relying upon a spiritual and unseen God to handle events in this physical world is challenging for us.

Secondly, we tend to desire control over the factors influencing our lives.  (After all, only we truly understand what we need and what needs to be done!)  Abdicating that control to God on crucial matters is … difficult.  (Even if he is God!)

The Bible actually provides a lengthy list of things in which people place their trust, but should not.  Specifics mentioned are nations, the number and might of their soldiers and weaponry (Is. 31:1), and their fortified cities (Jer. 5:17).  Leaders or any humans are poor choices as well (Ps. 118:8-9).  Nor should anyone trust in themselves (Ps. 49:13), in their personal wealth (Ps. 49:6) or their personal accomplishments (Dan. 4:30-31).  And certainly no one should place their trust in false gods (Is. 42:17).  Repeatedly these focuses of trust are shown to be empty, and ultimately to lead to destruction.

And repeatedly, the Scriptures urge us to trust in the almighty, all-knowing, and filled-with-love-for-us God, and assure us God will work everything out.  Solomon the Wise urges us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

God’s message to us is, “Trust me!  I created the cosmos in all of its vastness and complexity; I am everywhere and know everything; I control all things.  I have already blessed you abundantly.  And, most importantly of all, I love you so much that I provided for your greatest need by sending my own Son to save you!  So why wouldn’t I care for all your other needs?  (Romans 8:32).  I am worthy of your trust.”

To which we reply, “I want to trust your better and more, Lord!  I need to trust you better and more!  How can I grow in this area?

I’ll offer a few suggestions that might foster greater trust:

1. Examine God’s Word and recognize God’s wonderful promises to provide for you (which are impossible for him to break! – Hebrews 6:18), his encouragements (commands actually) to trust him, and his promises to follow through for you.

2. Realize that all of the Bible is actually one huge training session on trusting God.  His demonstrations of his power, his examples of caring for his people, and his encouragements to his people to trust him, reverberate throughout Scriptures pages.  Faithfully read God’s Word and you will read repeatedly of God’s faithfulness.  The more you read, the more you will trust.

3. Look back on your life and note how wonderfully the Lord has cared for you, guided you, and worked everything out for you to this point.  Especially those times when you seriously wondered what God was doing, only to discover later he absolutely knew!

4. Deliberately pause and take note, mentally and perhaps even physically in a journal, of every new time God works matters out for you yet again.

5. Discuss God’s faithful care with your family or Christian friends. This reemphasizes the truth to you, and shares the truth with them.  Then listen to how the Lord’s faithfulness has impacted their lives as well!

6. Make a “Trusting God” playlist on your iPod or phone, and fill it with songs that remind you that our God is trustworthy. (Mine is 163 songs!  That’s 10 hours and 46 minutes of music about relying on Him!)  Play it when you are struggling to lean on the Lord.

7. Instead of hashing and rehashing situations in your mind, strive to develop mental and spiritual toughness. Deliberately turn the matter over to your God in confidence, and refuse to anxiously dwell on it in your thoughts.  “Give it to God … and don’t grab it back again!”  Then relax and let him handle things.  He is thoroughly capable!

“Trust me,” our loving Lord tells us.  And in both the Old and New Testaments, he describes the blessings he brings us when we do!

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal” (Isaiah 26:3-4).

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

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I Met the Risen Lord!

I Met the Risen Lord!

My name is Simon, son of John.  However, most of you know me by another name: the Apostle Peter.

And yes, it’s true!  I met the risen Lord Jesus!  Of course, I actually saw him multiple times.  The Gospel writers described many of the accounts, and Paul provided a partial list of Jesus’ appearances in 1 Corinthians 15.  I was blessed to be present at most of those occurrences.

But today I am finally going to share the details of Easter afternoon when Jesus appeared just to me.  Both Luke and Paul mention it, (Lk. 24:34, 1 Cor. 15:5), but never before have the specifics been passed along.  The details weren’t shared because they weren’t necessary to establish that Jesus truly was alive and seen by many.  But primarily they weren’t shared because they were intensely personal to me.

Let me begin by providing some background.

Some have called me impetuous, and I can’t deny it.  I’ve been known to blurt things out without always thinking things through.  Sometimes this leads to good comments on my part; sometimes not so good.

A positive example would be when Jesus asked who we, the disciples, thought he was and I replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 16:16).  Jesus said this was revealed to me by the Heavenly Father.  A negative example was recorded just a few verses later when I tried to tell Jesus that he would never … must never … be killed by his enemies.  Jesus indicated that these words were coming from Satan.  Not one of my better moments.

My comments are scattered throughout the Gospels; more by far than any other disciple.  Some of them I’m proud to claim; others I wish I could take back.  Always though I tended to make things interesting.  Sometimes my words actually led Jesus to share wonderful stories and truths that the Church will always treasure.

My impetuosity also resulted in landing me in some rather interesting predicaments.  Perhaps the most well-known was the time I climbed out of a boat in the middle of the storm-ravaged Galilean Sea and actually walked on top of the waves toward Jesus!  Unfortunately, that also happened to be the time I began to sink just moments later as doubts crept in.  Thankfully, Jesus intervened.

Jesus.  He always said the right thing; always did the right thing; always dealt with me (and with everyone!) in love.  He was so wise.  So strong.  So exceptional.

My love for him was anything but an impetuous emotion.  It was, and is, a deep-seated and abiding devotion.  He was the most remarkable individual I ever met.  But then, he was the Son of God!

Which is why the events leading up to his death troubled me so very much.  Or more specifically, my words and actions.  I bungled everything. 

When the Lord began washing our feet before the Passover Meal, I told him he would never wash my feet.  When he replied, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me,” I overcompensated and asked him to wash my hands and head as well.  Jesus made it clear that wasn’t necessary. (John 13:8-10).

Later, as Jesus was warning us that we, his own disciples, would abandon him that evening, I informed him I never would.  That’s when Jesus told me I would not only abandon him, but I would disown him three times before the rooster crowed twice.  And I insisted emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you” (Mark 14:29-31).  Yeah, we all know how that unfolded.  All four Gospels recorded my stupendous failure to back up my boast.

It wasn’t long after my rash and foolish words that Jesus asked James, John and myself to watch with him as he poured out his heart to his Heavenly Father in the Garden.  And we failed him – three times!  I failed him three times!

I actually tried to keep my word and fight for Jesus when the mob came to arrest him.  I was fully ready to lay down my life for my Lord, even swinging my sword at an overly aggressive individual and slicing off his ear.  But Jesus scolded me and ordered me to sheath my weapon.  Then he actually healed the wound!  I didn’t understand, and clearly I had disappointed Jesus yet again.

Later that evening in my fear, I denied him … exactly as he predicted I would.  And at that moment Jesus turned and looked at me, (Luke 22:61), and I remembered.  I’ll never forget my Lord’s expression.  It was a look of love, but also of profound sadness.  The shame and self-loathing overwhelmed me, and I ran outside and cried harder than I’ve ever cried in my entire life.

I share all of this to provide insight into my frame of mind at that time.  My grief at the death of Jesus was profound.  My Teacher, my Lord, and my best Friend had been tortured and crucified.  I couldn’t believe it had happened!  And it had happened so suddenly, and it seemed to make no sense!  All of this was a factor in my deep sorrow.  But it was compounded by my personal failures.  How could I have failed my Jesus so significantly?

I couldn’t shake my melancholy the entire weekend.

Then came the day I’ll never forget.  I, the rest of Jesus’ apostles and a number of his closest followers were closeted in a secret place.  We were certain that since Jesus was dead, his enemies would come after us as well. 

Early Sunday morning we were awoken by banging on the door.  As we staggered to our feet, those of us who had swords or weapons armed ourselves … convinced our hiding place had been found and determined not to be taken as meekly as Jesus had seemed to be.

But it wasn’t soldiers at the door; it was a group of excited women!  Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Joanna, Salome and others we knew well.  They were all speaking at the same time, making their message largely incoherent.  We finally asked Mary Magdalene to speak for them all. 

She told us the most preposterous thing.  (At least, it seemed preposterous at the moment!)  She said they had gone to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body with burial spices.  On the way, they wondered how they would gain access, since the stone covering the opening to the tomb was large.  But when they arrived, the stone was rolled aside.  They were horrified, and wondered what they might find inside. 

Yet when they arrived at the entrance, they received another shock altogether!  Two angels were there, and they informed the women that Jesus was risen to life.  Then the angels instructed the women to tell us that Jesus was alive, just as he had promised.

To be frank, we did not believe the women; their words seemed like nonsense.  (Luke 24:11).  How could it be true?

But we did not doubt that some nasty human shenanigans might be at play.  Jesus had many powerful enemies who detested his teachings, his miracles, and especially his claims.  Or perhaps the women had gone to the wrong tomb?  John and I set off at a run to investigate.  But the women were right; Jesus body was no longer there!  Only the linens that had been wrapped around his body remained.  However, we certainly didn’t encounter any angels. 

John seemed to believe Jesus was really alive.  (John 20:8).  I, on the other hand, walked away from the empty tomb wondering what in the world had happened.  We reported what we had discovered to the rest of the disciples.  Everyone was perplexed.

We exhausted ourselves discussing the possibilities, and the ramifications of those possibilities.  The emotions in that confined space were raw.  Finally, I had to escape the tension.  I needed to be by myself; needed to reflect – needed to think … even if it meant taking the risk of being recognized.

The brothers understood and sent me off with a prayer and blessing.  I cautiously made my way to a special place.  A sacred place.  The Garden of Gethsemane.  It was here, in this peaceful park at the foot of the Mount of Olives, that Jesus often taught us and often prayed.

How awful that this was the place the traitor, Judas, brought the mob to arrest Jesus.  The wonderful memories of quiet times here with Jesus were trampled under by the sinister events of the Passover evening.  The previous joyful interactions were hacked to sorrowful and painful pieces by evil men; the former happiness forever hijacked by wickedness!

I meandered through the olive trees, memories flooding over me.  Eventually I found myself sitting at the very place where Jesus had poured out his heart to his Heavenly Father.  The place where he begged me to watch with him, and instead I watched the back of my eyelids while I slept.  I had failed Jesus … drastically, repeatedly, inexcusably.  The shame of it overwhelmed me; my freely flowing tears transitioned to racking sobs of grief – my downturned head held in my trembling hands.

Suddenly a body settled next to me and an arm was draped over my shuddering shoulders.  I hadn’t heard anyone approaching, yet here they were.

“Leave me alone!” I groaned.  “Can’t you see I need to be alone?”

“How very like you, Peter, to say the wrong thing,” the voice said.  Then, “No, you don’t need to be alone.  You need to be with me.”  The arm over my shoulder drew me closer.

I gasped.  I recognized that voice! That timbre! That gentleness and love! 

But it couldn’t be!  It was impossible!  I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.  Couldn’t bear the possibility of being wrong.  That’s when he placed his other hand on my knee.  His nail-pierced hand.

It was him!  It was Jesus!  It was truly Jesus, and he was really alive!  I swung my head toward him, still scarcely able to believe it was him.  That’s when he laughed.  The Lord laughed at me!  Not in meanness, but in joyful love. 

I threw my arms around him, the tears still streaming down my face.  But now they were tears of sublime joy.  Jesus warmly hugged me back.  Then he gently pushed me away so he could make eye contact.

“Why didn’t you believe the women, Peter?”

“Because it was impossible!”

Jesus smiled at me, his eyes twinkling.  “Oh really?  Here I am, Peter.  It seems the impossible is possible after all.  Did I not tell you that with God all things are possible?”

What could I say?

“Why didn’t you believe me?  I told you numerous times what would happen … what had to happen.  I explained that I would have to die, but that I would rise again.  You even tried to talk me out of it.  Remember?”  I looked away and nodded.  “Why didn’t you believe me?”

I was silent, but Jesus waited.  Finally, I replied in exasperation, “Because I didn’t want it to happen!  Because I wanted it to be nonsense!”  Did I really just say that to Jesus?  (Have I mentioned that I’m sometimes impetuous?)  I looked back to Jesus in alarm.

But Jesus just smiled again.  “Have I ever spoken nonsense, Peter?”

“No, but clearly I sometimes have an issue with that.”

Jesus chuckled affectionately, then grew serious again.  “I have another question for you, Simon.  Why were you crying?

I didn’t really want to answer this question either, but I had to.  Finally I replied quietly,  “Because I failed you, Lord.  I fell asleep on you.  I abandoned you.  I denied you.  Because my spirit was willing, but my flesh was weak.”  My voice broke with sorrow.  “Because what you warned me about was true, and what I boasted about was not.”

“It was all part of the Father’s plan, Peter.  People learn, not just from the good examples, but also from poor ones.  Sometimes they learn better from the poor ones.  Many of my followers will learn from your good examples … and from your not so good ones.  So take heart.  It was all for a reason.”

“I’d prefer if people didn’t hear about my poor examples.”

“I know.  But they must, and they will.”  Jesus smiled again.

“One more thing.  It’s an important one.  Take it to heart, and pass it along.  A person is not defined by what they have done, but by what I have done for them and in them.”

Then Jesus pulled me into another embrace.  As I leaned into him, he said, “I am alive, Peter.  All I came to accomplish is accomplished.  Tell the world.”

“I will, Lord.  I will!”  More tears.

“I know you will, Peter.  And you will do it well.  But first, be sure to apologize to the women for not believing them.”  How like the Lord – never failing to needle me!

Then he was gone.  But he wasn’t gone.  He would never ever be gone again, for he was alive!

So there they are, the unknown details of Jesus’ appearance to me.  I’m glad I shared them, even though it was yet another situation where I responded in a less than stellar manner. 

But this is not about me.  It’s about Jesus, my Lord and yours.  My Savior and yours.  And it shows his incredible love for me and for you.  As he forgave me, so he forgives you.  As he treated me, so he deals with you. Always!

In conclusion, I will state the obvious: Jesus is alive!  And as I wrote in my first book, so I write  again:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.  This inheritance is kept in heaven for you! (1 Peter 1:3-4).

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To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

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A Fully Invested Savior – His Body and Blood

A Fully Invested Savior – His Body and Blood

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Maundy Thursday” (the Thursday before Easter), I have tried to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ve shared some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  I’ll do so once more.  This final “Fully Invested” post will form the basis of our Maundy Thursday evening worship discussion.  I pray all of these posts have provided wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To state that our Savior, Jesus, was fully invested in winning our forgiveness and salvation would be an understatement.  He literally sacrificed every part of his body to accomplish the task.  His mind, head, back, hands, feet and heart were all engaged in the process.  The torture they endured in turn caused significant physical stresses to his organs and the rest of his body.  There was no portion of his body unaffected; no part uninvolved, and none unimportant.

Jesus, his entire body, and the blood that coursed through that body, were fully invested.  And they had to be!  Jesus was the holy fulfillment of all of the Old Testament Passover lambs and sin offerings, in which the living sacrifices were slain for the sake of the people.

The Lord explained the necessity of shed sacrificial blood in the Old Covenant in Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.

Yet the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament/Covenant makes this remarkable statement: “It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4).

The Holy Spirit inspires the writer to then quote from Messianic Psalm 40 where Jesus (through David) says to his Heavenly Father, ‘“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, ‘Here I am — it is written about me in the scroll — I have come to do your will, my God.’” (Hebrews 10:5-7). 

In other words, Jesus was saying, “Father, I obediently offer my own body and blood to make atonement for sin in place of the countless and ineffective animal sacrifices, as you planned and desired all along.”  

The book of Hebrews then summarizes this significant truth; Jesus, God’s Holy High Priest, offered his physical body as the once-and-for-all Sacrifice for us.  So he was in effect the Sacrificer and the Sacrificee!

“We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But [then] this priest [Jesus!] offered for all time one sacrifice for sins … By one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:10-12, 14).

What did the fully invested Jesus offer in his sacred Sacrifice?  His entire body and his divine blood. 

The Apostle Peter explains:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18-19).  “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit” (1 Peter 3:18).

It took a fully invested Savior to save you and me; a Savior fully invested in enduring the ordeal of crucifixion and all that it entailed.  Archeologist Kristina Killgrove writes this about the process:

“Like death by guillotine in early modern times, crucifixion was a public act. But unlike the swift action of the guillotine, crucifixion involved a long and painful – literally, excruciating – death. The Roman orator Cicero noted that ‘of all punishments, it is the most cruel and most terrifying,’ and Jewish historian Josephus called it ‘the most wretched of deaths.’ So crucifixion was both a deterrent of further crimes and a humiliation of the dying person, who had to spend the last days of his life naked, in full view of any passersby, until he died of dehydration, asphyxiation, infection, or other causes.”

Yet despite the trauma Jesus’ body endured, it was not his wounds that killed him.  No, the eternal, almighty, God-Made-Man surrendered his life (“gave up his spirit”) at his own time and of his own accord.  When all was “finished,” the Lord Jesus simply shut down his body. (Matthew 27:50, John 19:30).

 It was two men from the Jewish Ruling Body, the Sanhedrin … both secret followers of Jesus … who removed the Lord’s body from the cross to bury it in a new tomb.  The corpse they claimed looked very different than it had just days earlier in life.  It was battered and bruised; pierced and torn and bloody – nearly unrecognizable from the pleasant, loving, thought-provoking Rabbi they had seen and heard before.

Little did they know that just a few days later, this dead body they deposited in the tomb would return to life again and walk victoriously back out of that sepulcher.

Our fully invested Savior had invested his entire body to redeeming us.  He did everything he needed to do, using every part of his body and shedding copious amounts of his blood. 

Yet he gave us something more.  The body and blood he brought into this world to offer as the holy sacrifice for the sins of all people he now offers to us as a testimony to all he has accomplished for us, and as a recurring gift, bringing faith and forgiveness to his own.  Jesus gave (and gives!) us his special Supper.

Most are familiar with Paul’s words regarding this gift. 

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

How astonishing that our Lord would wrap himself in a body of flesh and blood, and specifically so that this body could be tortured and killed, and this blood could be spilled. 

Equally astonishing is the fact that our Lord offers this same body and blood to you and me to eat and drink, and thereby joins together with us in an exquisite union.  It’s an earthly communion that will continue until the Lord calls us out of this world and into his perfect presence in Paradise where we will commune with him face-to-face in glory. 

Jesus’ body and blood.  Just another example of our fully invested Savior, offering his everything to bring us everything.

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To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

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A Fully Invested Savior – His Heart

A Fully Invested Savior – His Heart

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The heart.  It is one of the most crucial organs in our bodies.  Heart problems equal health problems.  Consequently the word “heart” has come to symbolize significance (e.g. the heart of an issue).  In the same way, the word “heart” has transcended the physical to both the emotional (e.g. heavy or happy hearts) and even spiritual (e.g. devote your hearts to God).

And when we speak of the heart of Jesus being fully invested in us and our salvation, we are speaking of all of the above.  Or more accurately, we are referring to what the Bible tells us about the heart of God.

Already in the Old Testament, we hear of the love the Lord has for his people, demonstrated by his promise to send the Savior.  “He has raised up for his people a horn, [that is, a strong victor], the praise of all his faithful servants, of Israel, the people close to his heart” (Psalm 148:14).

Yet we also hear, in strong poetic language, the grief the Lord feels when his people turn away from him.  Written by the prophet Jeremiah describing his own heartache over the Jews being carried away into captivity, by extension it also reflected the Lord’s heart:

‘“Your own conduct and actions have brought this on you. This is your punishment. How bitter it is! How it pierces to the heart!’” Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. For I have heard the sound of the trumpet; I have heard the battle cry. Disaster follows disaster; the whole land lies in ruins” (Jeremiah 4:18-20)

Of course, this heart of God was embodied in Jesus as God took on flesh.  Speaking of Jesus, the Holy Spirit inspired the prophet Isaiah to write, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isaiah 40:11)

Perhaps nowhere in the Gospels do we see this more clearly than in Luke’s account of this remarkable situation:

“Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out — the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the bier they were carrying him on, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. (Luke 7:11-17)

This heart that beat inside Jesus’ human body and which loved all people unconditionally and grieved as they grieved, brought him to earth and eventually took him to the most unlikely place on earth for the Son of God – a Roman cross.  But it was specifically because his heart loved us and grieved over our situation that he allowed himself to be nailed there. 

There was no other way for us to be saved; no other atonement sufficient to pay for our sins; no other Sacrifice sufficient.  So Jesus offered himself as our holy Substitute. 

He gave himself to our suffering, and when the payment had been made, he gave himself over to death.  His loving heart stopped beating as he gave up his life in love for you and me on the cross. 

John records the events of Jesus’ final moments, and of what transpired following his death.

“Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. [A common practice which resulted in death within moments.]

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: ‘Not one of his bones will be broken,’ [like the Passover lamb – Ex. 12:5, 46] and, as another scripture [Zech. 12:10] says, ‘They will look on the one they have pierced’” (John 19:31-37).

The heart that was pierced with grief for those who rejected him was pierced with a spear after he died.  This final abuse of his body wasn’t an additional suffering Jesus had to endure.  Rather it was the proof of his words, “It is finished.”  The perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the world had been offered and accepted.  The payment for iniquity was completed.

How incredible!  How wonderful!  How full of love was the heart of Jesus, even after emptied of the physical blood and pooled water following his death.

Which brings us to another comforting passage regarding the heart of Jesus – spoken by Jesus himself.  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”  (Mathew 11:28-30)

Thankfully, Jesus’ fully invested heart moved him to fully invest the rest of his body to the process of redeeming us.  In the end, it demanded the investment of even his heart itself.  It was an investment he was very glad to make.

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To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

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A Fully Invested Savior – His Feet

A Fully Invested Savior – His Feet

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sometime after he was born, even in the midst of the craziness of the events of his birth, Mary and stepfather, Joseph, must have held Jesus’ tiny feet in their hands, marveling at God’s creation.  And marveling that God would be made Man to be the Savior.  As they counted his tiny toes, how could they have understood all that those feet would do for them, and for all people?

Those little feet would grow larger, until eventually they supported Jesus’ entire body.  They would walk many miles on the dusty, rocky Palestinian roads, carrying the Son of God through his ministry.  Countless steps throughout the region of Galilee, south through Samaria to Judea, and then back north again, including a few side trips to Phoenicia on the West, and Perea and the Decapolis on the East.

The only time we hear of Jesus riding an animal was on Palm Sunday, when he rode “on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Mt. 21:5) in order to fulfill the Messianic prophecy of Zechariah (9:9).  He boarded boats a few times for journeys across the water.  Otherwise, it seems that wherever he went he walked.  Sometimes he even walked on the water!  (Jn. 6:19)

And while he walked he taught his disciples.  Wherever he walked, his feet carried him to opportunities to proclaim God’s Word, and to heal and help God’s people.  Many were the times Jesus directed his feet on special excursions to meet with very specific people in order to minister to them.

Wherever his feet carried him, they carried the loving Lord.  His feet were the means by which the compassionate heart of God was transported from place to place on earth, enabling Jesus to demonstrate who he really was with his powerful words and his actions.  They were the same feet, in fact, that positioned and repositioned Jesus before the twelve sets of stinky, dirty feet of his disciples so that in serving love he could wash them at his last Passover meal (Jn. 13:3-5).

Those feet were also the feet anointed with tears and expensive perfume by a sinful woman (Lk. 7:37-38), Mary of Bethany, and wiped with her hair just days before Jesus died and was buried.  (Jn. 12:1-3).  This remarkable act of sorrowful repentance (and perhaps also sorrowful recognition of Jesus’ impending death) was finally what prompted greedy, thieving Judas to betray Jesus to the Jewish leaders (Jn. 12:4-6, Mk. 14:10-11). 

How interesting that the washing of his feet would lead to them being pierced and stained in blood shortly thereafter. 

Archeologist Kristina Killgrove describes how the Roman crucifiers affixed the crucified’s feet to the cross.  “Once the crossbar was in place, the feet may be nailed to either side of the upright or crossed.  In the first case, nails would have been driven through the heel bones, and in the second case, one nail would have been hammered through the metatarsals in the middle of the foot.”  Dr. William D. Edwards writes that “Only very rarely, and probably later than the time of Christ, was an additional block (suppedaneum) employed for transfixion of the feet.”

Every depiction of the crucified Jesus I have seen shows him with his feet crossed and nailed through the top.  Is this assumption or based on oral tradition passed down through the millennia?  Regardless, either method of securing the feet to the cross was horrific.  And either would be supported with the resurrected Jesus’ invitation to his fearful disciples to “Look at my hands (wrists?) and feet (ankles?)” (Luke 24:39-40).

As I reflect on the feet of Jesus, those holy feet cruelly nailed to a cross as part of the atoning cost of the redemption of sinners, I can’t help but remember the words of two Old Testament prophets regarding feet bringing wonderful news.  Nahum was inspired to write these words regarding the ultimate defeat of the Assyrians: “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! … No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed” (Nahum 1:15).  Isaiah shared a very similar message (52:7) that Gods’ people would be rescued from Babylon’s control.

Both passages refer to feet bringing the stunning news of earthly deliverance, but both ultimately speak of an even more stunning spiritual deliverance as well – a deliverance brought about by the Messiah whose hands and feet were nailed to a cross on “Mount” Calvary.

David was inspired to write the remarkable and oft-quoted prophecy that the Lord (the Father) promised the Lord (Jesus), “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” (Psalm 110:1).  This was a reference to the common custom in ancient days for a conqueror to place his foot on the head of a foe as a display of victory. 

Ultimately this prophecy will be completed on the Last Day when Jesus returns, but much of it came to fruition already with Jesus’ death and resurrection.  As the Lord’s very first promise of the Savior declared way back in the sin-tarnished Garden.  Speaking to Satan, the Lord stated,  [“The offspring of the woman – the Christ] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15).  Or as Paul explains to the Corinthians, “For [Jesus] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.  The last enemy to be destroyed is death.  For he ‘has put everything under his feet’” (1 Corinthians 15:25-27).

From tiny feet at his birth, to feet that walked throughout Palestine on a ministry of love, to feet anointed with perfume and tears then cruelly pierced with nails, thereby crushing Satan’s head, to feet that carried the victorious Savior out of the tomb on Easter morning, our fully invested Lord dedicated even his feet to the process of winning our salvation.  And thanks be to Him that he did!

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy.  When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes.  Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem” (Isaiah 52:7-9).

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

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A Fully Invested Savior – His Hands

A Fully Invested Savior – His Hands

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How many people had been helped by those hands?  How many times had they reached out in love to touch the hurting and despised?  How often had their gentle touch comforted the grief-stricken?

Now those kind hands were stretched out wide and cruelly nailed to a cross.

Scripture abounds with references to God’s hands.  Already in the second chapter of the Bible, we hear how the Triune God hand-formed the first man from the soil of the earth (Gen. 2:7) and the first woman from the man’s rib (Gen. 2:22) … both created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27).  From the very beginning of time, God’s “hands” were directly involved with, and bringing blessings to, humans.

Throughout the Old Testament, many idioms referring to God’s “hand” describe the Lord’s activity in colorful illustrations.  Psalm 89:13 summarizes it succinctly.  Speaking to the Lord the psalmist writes, “Your arm is endowed with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted.”  Job 12:10 states this: “In [God’s] hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.”

The Lord states the simple but profound truth.  “I am he; I am the first and I am the last. My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens” (Isaiah 48:12-13).

The Scriptures repeatedly speak of God turning his hand against Israel’s enemies (Ezek. 25:6-7).  His hands lay hold of his enemies and seize his foes (Ps. 21:8); they destroy idolatrous prophets; (Ezek. 14:9) they drive out godless nations (Ps. 44:2).

But those same hands bring prodigious blessings to God’s people.  They are described as being lifted up in solemn oath (Dt. 32:40) and subsequently fulfilling those promises (1 Kgs. 8:15).  God’s hands are with those who love him (1 Chr. 4:10), satisfying them with good things (Ps. 104:28), upholding them (Ps. 37:24), delivering and rescuing them (Ps. 144:7).  In short, the Lord’s “hands” perform awesome deeds (Ps. 45:4).

The Gospels also repeatedly refer to God’s hands.  But when they do, they are no longer using idioms.  It was the actual hands of Jesus, God-Made-Man, in action.

And wherever his hands were involved, Jesus was expressing love.

After casting out a demon who had been tormenting a boy, the boy was prone on the ground.  “Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet” (Mark 9:27).  Following the terrifying revelation of his glory to three of his disciples, they were facedown on the ground, but Jesus lovingly touched them and reassured them.  And who can forget the picture of Jesus with the children?  “He took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them” (Mark 10:16).

Jesus routinely laid his hands on the sick and healed them (Mk. 6:5).  We witness it as he gently touched the hand of Peter’s mother-in-law and broke her fever (Mt. 8:14-15).  And again when he touched the crippled woman and straightened her back for the first time in eighteen years (Lk. 13:13), when he placed his hands on a blind man’s eyes and restored his sight (Mk. 8:25), when he inserted his fingers into a deaf man’s ears and mouth, providing hearing and speech (Mk. 7:35), and when he did the unthinkable and touched a leper to cleanse him (Mt. 8:3).  Most striking of all, Jesus grasped a dead girl’s hand and raised her back to life (Mk 5:41-42). 

Then there was the final healing miracle Jesus performed.  After Peter sliced off the right ear of the high priest’s servant, Jesus “touched the man’s ear and healed him” (Luke 22:51).  An astounding miracle!  Yet even more astounding – even after witnessing his love and his power, his enemies were still determined to arrest him and kill him.

Just a day later, the hands which laid the foundations of the earth and which repeatedly broke the rules of nature by bringing healing and help to the hurting were stretched along a beam of wood and viciously secured to it with piercing nails.  And once again when Jesus’ hands were involved, they were expressing love … in this case, profound love.

Dr. William D. Edwards describes exactly what crucifixion entailed.

“They could either tie or nail the hands … but the Romans preferred nailing.  Archaeological evidence indicated that the nails used were tapered iron spikes approximately 5-7 inches long and 3/8 inches in diameter with a square shaft.  They were usually driven through the wrists because they would tear out of the flesh in the palms of the hands.”

“When the hands (wrists) were nailed to the cross, it is likely that painful periosteal injury would happen.  The driven nail would crush or sever the rather large sensorimotor median nerve … producing excruciating bolts of fiery pain in both arms.  At least part of the hand would be paralyzed, and impalement of the ligaments would probably produce a clawlike grasp.”

Of course, the mighty hand of the Lord would never have turned his hands over to mere humans to be abused were it not his intention to do so.  The Lord says: “This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations.  For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?  His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”  (Isaiah 14:26-27).

This is a fascinating passage!  It was spoken in reference to God’s plan to obliterate the enemies of his people, the Assyrians and the Babylonians.  Yet “Babylon” is often used in Scripture to speak of believers’ spiritual enemies.  And when Jesus stretched out his hands on the cross … they were stretched out for … and over! … all nations to obliterate the unholy three of sin, death and the devil.  It was the Lord’s “purposed” plan to win salvation for sinners, and no one could thwart him or turn his hands back!  Written to refer to earthly deliverance by the Lord, the words certainly apply to the spiritual deliverance Jesus brings as well.

Which leads us to join with the psalmists in praising our fully invested Lord Jesus. 

“The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.  Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: ‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!
The LORD’s right hand is lifted high; the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!’  I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. (Psalm 118:14-17).  “Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” (Psalm 98:1).

How to Interact on This Blog

To Comment – Please share your thoughts!  (Commenting is the fun part!)  To do so, click on the “Comments” tag under the title.  I, and many others, would love to benefit from your insights!

To Subscribe – Go to the “Follow This Blog Via Email” column.  If you don’t immediately see that box, click on the “Comments” tag under the title, and scroll to the very bottom.  You should find it there.

A Fully Invested Savior – His Back

A Fully Invested Savior – His Back

For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Regarding his future suffering, the pre-incarnate Jesus stated this through the prophet Isaiah, “I offered my back to those who beat me” (Isaiah 50:6).  Of course, we hear about his scourging every Lenten season.  (See Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, and John 19:1.)

And we fail to comprehend exactly how horrible this was.

In an article written by Doctor William. D. Edwards, with input from Wesley J. Gabel and Floyd Hosmer, we are provided a medical explanation of what that entailed.  Be forewarned, this is not for the squeamish.

“Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution, and only women and Roman senators or soldiers (except in cases of desertion) were exempt.  The usual instrument was a short whip (flagrum or flagellum) with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals.”

“For scourging, the man was stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post.  The back, buttocks, and legs were flogged either by two soldiers (lictors) or by one who alternated positions.  The severity of the scourging depended on the disposition of the lictors and was intended to weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse or death.”

“As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victim’s back with full force, the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues.  Then, as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.  Pain and blood loss generally set the stage for circulatory shock.  The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross.”

Brutal flogging was standard before a Roman crucifixion.  The Lord limited the Jews to 40 lashes with their leather whips, but the Romans with their vicious flagrum observed no such limitations.  Their only priority was to leave the victim with sufficient strength to carry their crosses to the place of their execution. 

The fact that Jesus could not bear his cross suggests an extremely severe beating.  If you place any relevance on the Shroud of Turin, the blood traces on it showed the man wrapped in it endured between 100 and 120 “stripes,” mostly in groups of two or three. ([email protected]).

Regardless of your view on the Shroud, it does demonstrate the brutality of a scourging.  A study of the residue of the flogging wounds on the material reveal the following:

The marks are all over the trunk of the body, head, shoulders, and upper legs.  Most are on the back of the body, which would be consistent with tying the victim with his face toward a column.  However, there are also many traces on the chest, indicating that the cutting cords wrapped around his body.  There are no wounds on the forearms, almost certainly because they were raised above the head. 

“The lashes are in a fan shape, spreading out from two origins, one on each side of the body.  The center of the wounds inflicted from the right are a little higher than those inflicted from the left.  The probable explanation is that the executioner standing on the right was taller than the one standing on the left.  One of them showed a tendency to lacerate the legs” ([email protected]).

Our fully invested Savior willingly and lovingly offered up his back to that.

In fact, Jesus knew full well what awaited him.  He informed his disciples shortly before his suffering exactly what was about to transpire (Mt. 20:17-19).  Jesus simply stated the plan; he didn’t go into gory detail.  He didn’t have to.  Anyone living in the Roman world knew the specific implications of flogging and crucifixion.

Is it any wonder that Jesus as True Man begged his Heavenly Father in the Garden to remove this horrific suffering from him?  (Mt. 26:36-44).  Yet Jesus as True God was totally committed to winning our forgiveness and salvation.  Even to the point of having his back torn open and his muscles frayed.

Jesus as Man, knowing the Scriptures perfectly as God, must have found comfort in those passages like Isaiah 53, which showed his ultimate victory and glorious honor from his Father (vss. 10-12). 

Psalm 89 would have been another passage of assurance to him.  Written about the earthly David, some of the aspects of the psalm could only refer to the heavenly “David” (Jesus).  God the Father is speaking via Ethan the Ezrahite, and says this:

“I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. “

“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.”

“Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness — and I will not lie to David — that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky” (Psalm 89:27-37).

God’s sons and daughters (the people he created, loved and blessed) did violate his decrees and failed to keep his commands, so the Lord punished “their sin with the rod” and “their iniquity with flogging.”  But astoundingly, the One the Father punished was his own holy Son, Jesus!

Yet this truth remained; the Father states it unequivocally: “I will not take my love from him,” (from Jesus), and “his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me.”

Comforting words to Jesus, surely.  And comforting words to us as well.

What an amazing God, that he would offer his Son for us to endure the torture we deserved.  What a fully invested Savior, that he would willingly allow his back to be torn open so our sins would be torn away from us. 

What else can we say but an awestruck and heartfelt, “Thank you, Lord!”

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