The end of Jesus’ life was near. His ordeal that had begun barely twelve hours earlier with His arrest in Gethsemane, followed by two inquisitions and four trials, had culminated at Golgotha where He was crucified as a malefactor between two criminals. The religious leaders supposed that in ridding themselves of their enemy God had…
After Jesus was raised upon the cross, darkness enveloped the land as a divine omen that the sun had set upon the Jewish nation for its rejection of its Savior, the promised Messiah. But even in the midst of that spiritual darkness that all the more hardened the hearts of the unbelieving Jews, the hope…
After being condemned to death on Thursday morning of Passion week, Jesus was quickly led to Golgotha, the Skull, for the sentence to be carried out before His supporters had an opportunity to organize and raise a protest. The trial had already proved to be a sore ordeal for Pilate who wanted to release Him,…
After being found guilty by the Jewish leaders of claiming to be the Christ at the break of day on Thursday of Passion week, Jesus then faced three more trials before Pilate, Herod, and then Pilate again. Although the conclusion of each of these was that He was not guilty of the charges brought against…
As Jesus’ Spirit ebbed out with His lifeblood on the cross, it touched the lives of both criminals crucified on either side of him: one to a heart of flesh that was softened from stone by receiving Jesus’ Spirit of sacrifice, but one to an even greater hardness of heart by resisting that same…
As Jesus was dying upon the cross, the Spirit of His life was being poured out along with His blood. Even then, before the day of Pentecost when it would come pouring out like rivers of water to write God’s law of love upon men’s hearts to wash away their sins, it was powerfully affecting…
In Gethsemane, which means an olive press, Jesus was pressed for the oil of His Spirit. But as the body without the spirit is dead (Jam 2:26), to give up His Spirit meant giving up His life. In life He had always sought to do the will of His Father, trusting His great love to…
As Jesus was nailed to the cross, the Scriptures describe how He was mocked and scorned not only by the crowds who had been incited by the religious leaders and followed Him from the Praetorium (where He was condemned) to Golgotha, but also by the soldiers who crucified Him, as well as by the two…
As Jesus was dying upon the cross, already racked with pain from the tortures of crucifixion, He also suffered the agonizing pains of scorn and humiliation, not only from His religious enemies and the soldiers, but even from the criminals among whom He was numbered. In spite of the innumerable good things He had done…
As Jesus was led away to execution a crowd followed Him to the cross, not as disciples embracing their own cross of dying to their own self-will, but as enemies gloating to see His light extinguished, not knowing that from His broken vessel an unimaginably greater light would shine forth to expose their darkness. Note…