Daily Devotional

It was not the Jewish priests and Pharisees that crucified Jesus. They were only the instigators. Neither was it the crowd that cried out, "Crucify Him." They were only the motivators. And neither was it the Roman soldiers that crucified Jesus; they were only the instruments. The only distinguishing force that crucified Jesus was love.

"For God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son." God looked at the ages to come and He realized that without a blood sacrifice we had no hope. Without His Son dying on a cross for our sins, we would never be able to talk to a sinless God. Without the resurrection of Jesus, we would never be able to see our Heavenly Father one day.

I cannot imagine what God thought when His Son cried out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani? My God, My God, what hast Thou forsaken Me?" Did God turn His face when the nails pierced His Sons hands and feet? Did He cover the skies in grey when they whipped His beloved Son?

The hand that held the hammer was indeed the hand of God. God looked at me and said, "My child, I do not want you to die in your evil and wicked nature. For you, I am sending my only Son. Not only to die for you, but also to cleanse you and to make you as white as snow. I want you to be reconciled to me."

It was the heaviest price ever paid for my life. Nobody and nothing on this earth is as valuable as the ransom price Jesus paid to redeem me. And not me only, but the whole world. I cannot think of what the cross looked like when every sin got attached to the sinless Son of man. Should the cross not have fallen over with all the weight? Yet it stood, and He stood, with one hand outstretched to the left, and the other to the right. So great was His love that He had His hands nailed in that position, ready to embrace you and I.