Jesus' Four-Letter Word

There is a four-letter word that describes Jesus. This same four-letter word is the reason Jesus came to earth. This four-letter word explains why Jesus stayed on the cross when He had the power to save His life. This four-letter word is love.

As Christians, when we think about the cross we can become desensitized to the facts of what Jesus endured during His crucifixion. See the pain the human body endures during crucifixion is unbelievable. It's practically unbearable. It was so bad that they didn't even have a word to describe the anguish and pain someone went through during a crucifixion. They had to develop a new word meaning “out of the cross.” We know it as excruciating. Excruciating describes the pain Jesus endured during His crucifixion. When Jesus was being prepared for His crucifixion, His arms would have been dislocated at the shoulder and stretched 6 inches beyond his normal reach (fulfilling the prophecy in Psalm 22:14). Then while His arms are pulled outward, 5-7 inch tapered spikes would have been driven through His wrists to keep him from falling off the cross. Another spike would have been driven through His overlapped feet. Those spikes would have destroyed nerves in the feet and wrists. Those destroyed nerves would have caused a permanent sensation much worse than but similar to the pain when a person hits their “funny bone.” During crucifixion the body is placed in a constant position of inhalation. Jesus would have to push His body upwards to exhale and lowering His body would be able to inhale again but forced to move up again to exhale. He did all of this as His back, mutilated from His scourging, rubbed against the cross. He did it while pulling against those spikes driven into His wrists and pushing against the one in His feet. And finally, His heart would have beat erratically and He would have known when He was at the moment of death. This would allow Him to say “Lord into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46) and "It is finished" (John 19:30) just before suffering cardiac arrest and dying from exhaustion and suffocation.

But why go through the gory details of what Jesus endured while He was on the cross? First off, so we don’t forget and take for granted what Jesus did for us on the cross. If we are a Christian then when we sin we take for granted what Christ did for us. When we sin we make a mockery of Him as badly as those standing at the cross on that day. Secondly, to remind us of the love He showed us on that cross. Jesus could have easily saved Himself and came down off of the cross. But He didn't come down from the cross. He didn't because He wanted to show us His love. William Barclay once wrote “Jesus came to tell people of the love of God; more, he was himself the incarnate love of God. If he had refused the cross or if in the end he had come down from the cross, it would have meant that there was a limit to God’s love, that there was something which that love was not prepared to suffer for men and women, that there was a line beyond which it would not go.”

There was no drink to ease the pain or ridicule from His enemies or fear of death that could get Jesus to come down off of that cross. Why? Because His love for you was greater than anything else. His desire for you to have a relationship with God meant more to Him than His own life did. He died on that cross as a sacrifice for you so that your sins could be forgiven, so you could have a relationship with God and spend eternity with Him in heaven. That’s why He stayed on the cross. That’s why He endured the pain. That’s why He became sin for you and me. It was all because of Jesus' four-letter word. L-O-V-E.

If you're a believer in Christ and have wondered from God, then take time right now to seek His forgiveness and turn back to Him. We call it repentance. He'll gladly take you back.

If you've never heard before that God loves you and that Jesus died on the cross for all the wrongs you've ever committed, then I encourage you to seek His forgiveness. God is willing to forgive you of your sins. All you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for your sins, and that God raised Him from the dead. If you believe that all you have to do is ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to come into your life as your Lord and Savior. If you have more questions then check out northcatawbabaptist.com/Salvation or email me at pastornick@northcatawbabaptist.com.

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