Are you becoming sensitive to sin or being hardened by it?

Josephus, the Jewish historian, described crucifixion as “the most wretched of deaths.” People in those days recognized its gruesomeness that suicide was preferred over crucifixion. This is what Jesus took on and suffered excruciating pain on the cross, for each one of us.

On that day, a long nail was driven between the bones of his feet, lodged firmly enough between those bones to prevent it from tearing through his feet as Jesus arched upward, gasping for breath. In order for him to breathe, he had to push himself up by his feet, which were nailed to the vertical beam. However, because the pressure on his feet became unbearable, it wasn’t possible for him to remain long in this position, so eventually he would collapse back into the hanging position. As Jesus pushed up and collapsed back down again and again over a long period of time, his shoulders would eventually be dislocated and pop out of joint. Soon the out-of-joint shoulders would be followed by the elbows and wrists. These would extend his arms up to nine inches longer than usual, resulting in terrible cramps in his arm muscles and making it impossible for him to push himself upward any longer to breathe. When he was finally too exhausted and could no longer push himself upward on the nail lodged in his feet, the process of asphyxiation began. Due to extreme loss of blood and hyperventilation, he would begin to experience severe dehydration. After several hours of this torment, his heart would begin to fail leading to a possible cardiac arrest. Also his lungs could collapse, and excess fluids would begin filling the lining of his heart and lungs, adding to the slow process of asphyxiation. This is most likely what happened on the cross that day 2000 years ago.

Today as we look at the way Jesus died, we can see a correlation to the people dying from Corona virus. Many have either died due to asphyxiation or cardiac arrest. Is the 2020 Good Friday reminding mankind of the way Jesus died? Is it reminding mankind of the pain that Jesus took on the cross for us? If not, it should, because Jesus took that excruciating pain due to our deceitful hearts leading many of us into sin.  

Obadiah 1:3 (ESV) reminds us “The pride of your heart has deceived you.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV) tells us that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Are you becoming sensitive to the sin in you and around you? Is it making you sick? Are you coming to a point like Isaiah, when an encounter with God made him fall down and call himself a “man of unclean lips?”  Or is your heart deceiving you to become hardened - to believe, accept and accommodate to the ways of this world and to your sinful passions?

Heb. 4:12 (ESV) reminds that the Word of God is, “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, ….. discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Interestingly, the only thing that can truly examine our deceitful and deceptive heart’s “thoughts and intentions,” is the Bible. 

Today, can I challenge you to remember the pain that Jesus suffered on the cross? Can I encourage you to hide God’s Word in your heart, so that you become sensitive to sin in you and around you? So that it will protect you from getting deceived by your corrupt heart? Jesus conquered both sin and death when he resurrected, so may this Easter 2020 help you find victory from both sin and death for all eternity.

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!!