We May Not Realize...Sample

... what He went through to save us.

Jesus Christ's sacrifice served as propitiation for humanity. This means He paid the price, in full, for all mankind's sins - past, present, and future - with His own life (1 John 4:10). Many of us may not realize just how brutal that price was for Him. If we did, we might not so readily take our salvation for granted.

The details of Christ's suffering and eventual crucifixion were foretold by the prophet Isaiah nearly seven centuries before they occurred (Isaiah 53). Crucifixion was a horrific form of execution introduced in the Roman Empire during the 3rd century B.C. Typically, this punishment was reserved for the worst of criminals. It involved hanging a victim from a wooden cross by first driving spikes through their wrists and feet. The cross would then be erected in public view. The crucified victim would simultaneously suffocate while bleeding out. The amount of time it took them to die depended on how they had been mounted to the cross, whether or not they were given a footrest to support their body weight (which could actually prolong their suffering), or if the executioners chose to break the victim's legs (which would hasten their death).

Jesus was given a footrest and His legs were left unbroken, prolonging His suffering for nearly six hours.

Prior to Jesus' crucifixion, He endured all manner of abuse. Falsely arrested in the dead of night, He was accused of crimes He did not commit, spit upon, mocked, and beaten by the leading Jewish priests of the day (Mark 14:65).

He was stripped naked, taunted, and beaten further by Roman soldiers, who even went so far as to dress Him up in purple robes (the color of royalty) and force a crown of thorns onto His head (Matthew 27:27-31).

He was forced to carry His own cross to the site of His execution (John 19:16-19). Once crucified, He was jeered by the crowds who had assembled to witness the spectacle of His death. Even one of the two criminals crucified alongside Him taunted Him (Luke 23:32-39)!

What is truly remarkable about all the humiliation and pain Jesus endured on our behalf is what His substitutionary death accomplished. The price for human sin against a righteous God is death. Jesus understood that a perfect sacrifice was required to satisfy God's justice once for all time, and He knew it was a price we were incapable of paying. So Jesus gave His own life in order to save all of ours (Galatians 2:20).

Let that sink in.

He loves us that much!

Jesus once told His disciples that a man could show no greater love for his friends than to lay down his life for them (John 15:13) - and that is, quite literally, what He did for all of us.

What's more - and this is the part that many do not realize - He did it not after we had proven ourselves worthy (because we couldn't), not after we had made any spiritual progress (because we hadn't), not even after we promised to do better (because, let's face, that wasn't going to happen).

No, Jesus died for us while we were still His enemies, broken and rife with sin (Romans 5:8).