Thursday Day 147 3-10-11
Revelation 1:5b
All glory to Him who loves us, and freed us from our sins by shedding His blood for us.
Isaiah 53:5
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.
We all know that Jesus died for our sins. But today I just realized something. He didn't just take our sin away. He who was innocent, became guilty for us. He actually took the blame, became guilty, just as if He had done it Himself. He was stripped naked so we could be covered in righteousness. He became shame. He became guilty. For us!
I've been reading a fictional series (based on true events) called Chronicles of Brothers by Wendy Alec. It's about the archangels Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer (who became Satan). The three books are The Fall of Lucifer, The First Judgment, and The Son of Perdition. I just finished The First Judgment and it was based on the life of Christ. There is the scene of Him dying on the cross and it really touched my heart:
The ferociously seething cyclones swirled above a rapidly growing gulf above Golgotha . Jesus' hair blew violently as every particle of His being was instantly immersed in a violent light storm that coursed like an electric tempest through His being, lifting Him inches from the cross, then thrusting Him violently back against the coarse wood. He raised His face in horror to the black, swirling gales that raged overhead, visible only to Gabriel and the legions of the First Heaven and those of the fallen [in other words, not visible to the natural eye. Only to the angels and demons, and Jesus]. The cyclones crashed through the gulf, their ferocious power unleashed on Jesus as generation after generation's evil, depraved ravings of the Race of Men and hell's demons descended toward Jesus - a lewd wave of unending filth. A million, million blasphemies, the wicked, darkened imaginings of the Race of Men resounded through the Place of the Skull.
"Eloiiii!" Jesus screamed, His voice drowned out by the discordant, raging profanities, "Father….Fa…th…er…" His agonized scream rang out through the darkening skies as His body jerked with violent convulsions.
Bloodied harpies and leech-vampires descended on the center cross like a violent seething shroud, their pincers and talons ripping into Jesus' limbs; their ulcerated lips latched on to His chest, expelling their infected viruses until His skin became a mass of purpled, bloodied welts, a living, writhing mass of rotting flesh. Leprous nodules covered His lips and eyes, swollen thrice their size; swelling cancers multiplied and spread across His abdomen and chest; a white film covered His eyes until Jesus stared ahead completely blind.
Gabriel lowered his eyes from Jesus' hideous disfigurement.
Obviously, we don't know if this is what actually happened, but I think it is an amazing picture of how He didn't just take things away, but He actually took it upon Himself.
Saturday Day 149 3-12-11
Hebrews 5:7-9
While Jesus was here on Earth, He offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the One who could save Him from death. And God heard His prayers because of His deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God's Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest, and He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him.
Jesus is our High Priest. Do know what a priest does? He stands before God and intercedes (prays) for His people. Jesus prays for us. Isn't that crazy?! The other night in burn team, we talked about prayer reading the scriptures. I haven't done it a lot, but when I read this, I decided I should try it. So I just said short phrases like, "Jesus, You are my High Priest. Thank You for interceding for me. Thank You for caring enough about me to pray for me."
I got a picture of Jesus on His knees, face to the ground, weeping, His heart broken, begging His Father to bring me back at the time I wasn't walking with Him.
This is Christ's love for us. Isn't it beautiful?
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