Crucified with Christ!

The way Christ died, by the incredibly cruel and painful crucifixion, provides a very harsh and real visual that sin has horrible consequences.  Crucifixion was designed to exert enormous suffering and the most painful death the Roman Empire could invent for those who had been judged guilty and sentenced to be crucified.  We contemplate the enormous price paid to free us from our sins. As we read on Passover, the blood of God’s own Son, slain from the foundation of the world, was that price. Reflecting on that death can be a deeply moving experience. We don’t like suffering! We don’t like to think about death.

This time of year, we think about God, emptying Himself of His power and immortality, becoming a feeble human, and then suffering the worst death imaginable for the mostly unappreciative people He created.

That all this was done to deliver us from death. Such thoughts can impact us deeply.

And yet, there is much more for us to understand.