Daily Devotional For Thursday, August 1, 2024

Well, today is “Thirsty Thursday” all day. Friday is almost here as well as the weekend we all thirst for today. The Cross is a powerful symbol, but many people without realizing it minimize it unintentionally. So, what is the cross for you? Is it a piece of jewelry you wear? Is it a symbol you put on your business card as a kind of silent message to potential customers? Please do not misunderstand me. There is nothing wrong with any of these, but if we are going to be honest and real about this — the cross is an instrument of execution! 

When was the last time you saw someone wearing jewelry that looked like an electric chair or they put an electric chair on their business card? You probably have never seen this and for good reasons. Crucifixion was developed by the Persians but perfected by the Romans. Crucifixion was Rome’s way of sending a very graphic picture of what happens to those who oppose it. After the uprising by Spartacus in 71 BC, Rome crucified 6,000 men. The crosses lined the road from Rome all the way to Capua, which is around 106 miles as the crow flies.

Crucifixion was a horrible way to die. People could hang up to a week before they died. It typically wasn’t the spikes through the hands and feet that caused death, but asphyxiation. 

The condemned would have severe difficulty inhaling, due to hyper-expansion of the chest muscles and lungs. The condemned would therefore have to draw himself up by the arms, leading to exhaustion, or have his feet supported by tying or nailed to a wood block. When no longer able to lift himself, the condemned would die within a few minutes. So, to breathe, you had to push up on your feet to allow your lungs the ability to expand and inhale and then exhale. Remember, there was a spike going through the feet. The pain was excruciating. Eventually exhaustion got you and you died by asphyxiation.

The point was to make your death as painful and as excruciating as possible. In recent years, some scientists and scholars have done controlled experiments to confirm this. Having doctors give their input, it is possible that some died by heart failure, arrhythmia, hypovolemic shock, acidosis, dehydration and pulmonary embolism, as well as from sepsis. Doctors concluded this based on the spikes, the difficulty breathing and pushing up to breathe, the elements and weather, the health of the individual, etc. 

The Bible says this in 1 Peter 2:24, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed” (ESV). Having been scourged with what was called “A Cat Of Nine Tails,” Jesus would have already suffered enormous blood loss and shock, which would have contributed to His death. This was a stick or staff with nine leather straps attached to it. In each strap was bone, glass, metal shards, and metal balls. When a person was scourged, they were tied to a post. Roman law stipulated up to 39 total strikes on the body. 

Meaning, 39x9=351. 9 leather straps hitting the body 39 times killed many. Rome had a law that only up to but not exceeding 39 strikes. If the punisher went above 39, he received the same punishment. Why 39? Rome had learned that most people died after 39 strikes of those “Cat of 9 Tails.” The scourging was to inflict excruciating pain, not death.

These straps would wrap around the body, and Roman punishers would then yank them as hard as they could. When this happened, tissue, tendons, and muscle were ripped out, causing excruciating pain and blood loss. To Romans soldiers, this was a sport and bets were made to see how many strikes the person could handle without dying. 

Isn’t it amazing that a symbol of execution is the main symbol of the Christian faith? In Luke 9:23, Jesus said this, "And He (Jesus) said to all, `If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me’” (ESV). Jesus never, ever said that following Him would be easy. In fact, it will be the hardest thing you have ever done in your whole life. In America, we are bombarded with messages to stand up for our rights. We can find a lawyer’s phone number faster than we can a Scripture verse to endure hardship. When was the last time you literally suffered for Christ? Yet, Christ commands us to put to death our total self by symbolically and spiritually crucifying our old nature each day, all day, in exchange for a new nature — His. 

In 1 Peter 2:24, Peter reminds us of Christ’s substitutionary death. I like what New Testament scholar Leon Morris writes:

“Redemption is substitutionary, for it means that Christ paid the price that we could not pay, paid it in our stead, and we go free. Justification interprets our salvation judicially, and as the New Testament sees it Christ took our legal liability, took it in our stead. Reconciliation means the making of people to be at one by the taking away of the cause of hostility. In this case the cause is sin, and Christ removed that cause for us. We could not deal with sin. He could and did, and did it in such a way that it is reckoned to us. Propitiation points us to the removal of the divine wrath, and Christ has done this by bearing the wrath for us. It was our sin which drew it down; it was He who bore it. . . . Was there a price to be paid? He paid it. Was there a victory to be won? He won it. Was there a penalty to be borne? He bore it. Was there a judgment to be faced? He faced it” (Source: Leon Morris, The Cross In The New Testament, p. 405).

Paul, like Peter, placed supreme importance on Christ’s substitutionary atonement. To the Galatians he wrote, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18). The significance of Christ’s substitution cannot be overstated. Read these words by Leon Morris:

“To put it bluntly and plainly, if Christ is not my Substitute, I still occupy the place of a condemned sinner. If my sins and my guilt are not transferred to Him, if He did not take them upon Himself, then surely they remain with me. If He did not deal with sins, I must face their consequences. If my penalty was not borne by Him, it still hangs over me” (Source: Leon Morris, The Cross In The New Testament, p. 410).

Peter’s point is that Jesus Christ carried the massive, and heavy weight of sin. The weight of sin is so heavy that this is the result in Romans 8:22, “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (ESV). Only Jesus could remove such a massive weight of sin. This is the point of Hebrews 9:28, “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him” (ESV).

Jesus being our substitutionary sacrifice was nothing foreign to Peter. Having seen all the animals sacrificed in the Temple, this would have been a very vivid picture for Peter. We cannot come close to grasping what Jesus did for us on the cross. Only He understands the weight of sin in this world and only He could bear it for us. Let’s go back and read Luke 9:23 again, "And He (Jesus) said to all, `If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me’” (ESV). Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll writes this:

"First, a disciple must deny himself or herself. Denial doesn’t necessarily mean depriving oneself of earthly pleasures. Following Christ may or may not require that. The emphasis on “denying oneself” is submission to His agenda, saying no to what we want and saying yes to what He wants. Christianity is not obedience to a set of rules or the adoption of a certain philosophy; Christianity is absolute obedience to the person of Jesus Christ.

Second, a disciple must take up his or her cross. Executioners forced a condemned person to carry the implement of death to the place of execution. Therefore, to take up one’s cross was to die to one’s own agenda. Furthermore, the disciple had to do this daily.

Third, a disciple must follow Christ. The Greek term means, literally, “to move behind someone in the same direction, come after.” The main idea is to do as He did, to follow in His footsteps. He gave all for the sake of the kingdom of God, holding loosely all earthly things. For Him, the path led to death. The path of His disciples may or may not lead there, but true disciples must be willing to walk behind their Master regardless” (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, “Luke,” p. 253).

 Jesus never said following Him would be anything but difficult and challenging. However, He said the rewards of executing our carnal nature and following Him would be worth it. When we begin to “die to sin and live for righteousness,” the changes we will feel, see, and look forward to are both simple and profound, immediate and eternal. Let’s see the cross as more than the usual symbol of Christianity. Let’s see it as the place where our freedom from sin was purchased at a great price.

Questions To Consider

1. When was the last time you deliberately surrendered your rights for the purpose of following Jesus Christ?
2. What in your own life do you need to be crucifying every day so that you can follow Jesus?
3. Jesus became cursed and condemned for us so that we might become consecrated and Christlike for Him? Thank Him now for the pain He endured for you.
4. Discipleship means a death to self—a death to the individual. We live in a world where individual rights and personality take precedence over what is best for all. Read above Chuck Swindoll’s 3 descriptions of what a disciple must do. Which one needs to be primary in your life now and why?
5. Jesus was literally hung-up for your hang-ups. Which hang-ups was Jesus hung-up for you? Would you be willing this week to share with someone else what these are, what this means to you and the difference this makes in your life?

Scripture To Meditate On: Isaiah 53:4-6, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. (5) But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. (6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, I typically do not think about what You endured on the cross for me. Please help me to remind myself each day as I take up my own cross and with Your help, crucify my sinful sin so that I can follow You. Thank You for taking my place on that cross. While the cross is a sign of execution, thank You that You make it a sign of exaltation for us who are in Christ. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside!—Pastor Kelly