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Zechariah 13:6; Isaiah 53:5
INTRODUCTION:
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THE BRIDGE - THE STORY OF SACRIFICE
There
once was a bridge operator who had a young son whom he dearly loved. They were
inseparable. The young boy often asked to go with his father to watch him work
- to watch him raise and lower the draw bridge, allowing the boats to pass
under or the passenger trains to cross over. One day the father relented and
allowed his son to come with him.
"Stay here at a safe distance," the father warned the boy, "while I go and raise the bridge for the coming boat." The boy stayed where his father had left him and watched the bridge as it slowly lifted up in the sky. Suddenly, the boy heard the faint cry of an approaching passenger train - coming quite a bit sooner than had been expected. The father, up in the control room, could hear neither the whistle of the train nor the warning cry of his son.
The boy saw the train racing closer and closer, and he started to run along the platform to reach his father. Knowing there was a lever he could pull near the operating gears of the bridge, the boy ran to the door in the platform and tried to lower himself down to reach the lever. Losing his balance, he fell in to where the gears came together and was caught.
At the same time the father saw his son fall down into the hole in the platform, he saw the fast approaching train. In horror, he realized that if he didn't start lowering the bridge immediately, it would not be down in time for the train to pass safely. The train would crash into the river below killing hundreds of innocent people.
The man was faced with an unimaginable dilemma - race to save his son at the cost of hundreds of lives, or sacrifice his son to save the passengers on the train.
He made the only choice he could and pulled the lever to lower the bridge. In spite of the noise of the descending bridge and the oncoming train, he still heard the anguished screams of his beloved son being crushed to death between the gears of the bridge.
The father ran to the platform as the train was passing by. Most people on the train simply ignored the man crying on the platform. Others looked out of the window and stared, totally oblivious of the unspeakable sacrifice that had just been made on their behalf. They gave no other thought or concern to this man who had just given up what was most precious to him so that they could live.
Do you see the parallel? Can you understand the picture this story paints?
The sacrifice of One offers life to all. God did not take pleasure in watching His Son die. It had to have been agonizing for God to stand by as Jesus died covered in the intense darkness of all of our sins. There was no choice...it had to happen. The sacrifice had to be made in order for us to be able to live.
And like those people on the train, we have the choice regarding what we will do with that sacrifice. We can choose to ignore it - to ignore God - not even bothering consider what God did on our behalf. We can choose to look at God briefly - to glance in passing - and then continue on with our own priorities and plans. Or we can acknowledge what it was that God sacrificed to give us life. We can embrace it and accept it on our behalf, and choose to live our lives for God. http://louiethebunny.blogspot.com/2010/08/bridge-story-of-sacrifice.html
"Stay here at a safe distance," the father warned the boy, "while I go and raise the bridge for the coming boat." The boy stayed where his father had left him and watched the bridge as it slowly lifted up in the sky. Suddenly, the boy heard the faint cry of an approaching passenger train - coming quite a bit sooner than had been expected. The father, up in the control room, could hear neither the whistle of the train nor the warning cry of his son.
The boy saw the train racing closer and closer, and he started to run along the platform to reach his father. Knowing there was a lever he could pull near the operating gears of the bridge, the boy ran to the door in the platform and tried to lower himself down to reach the lever. Losing his balance, he fell in to where the gears came together and was caught.
At the same time the father saw his son fall down into the hole in the platform, he saw the fast approaching train. In horror, he realized that if he didn't start lowering the bridge immediately, it would not be down in time for the train to pass safely. The train would crash into the river below killing hundreds of innocent people.
The man was faced with an unimaginable dilemma - race to save his son at the cost of hundreds of lives, or sacrifice his son to save the passengers on the train.
He made the only choice he could and pulled the lever to lower the bridge. In spite of the noise of the descending bridge and the oncoming train, he still heard the anguished screams of his beloved son being crushed to death between the gears of the bridge.
The father ran to the platform as the train was passing by. Most people on the train simply ignored the man crying on the platform. Others looked out of the window and stared, totally oblivious of the unspeakable sacrifice that had just been made on their behalf. They gave no other thought or concern to this man who had just given up what was most precious to him so that they could live.
Do you see the parallel? Can you understand the picture this story paints?
The sacrifice of One offers life to all. God did not take pleasure in watching His Son die. It had to have been agonizing for God to stand by as Jesus died covered in the intense darkness of all of our sins. There was no choice...it had to happen. The sacrifice had to be made in order for us to be able to live.
And like those people on the train, we have the choice regarding what we will do with that sacrifice. We can choose to ignore it - to ignore God - not even bothering consider what God did on our behalf. We can choose to look at God briefly - to glance in passing - and then continue on with our own priorities and plans. Or we can acknowledge what it was that God sacrificed to give us life. We can embrace it and accept it on our behalf, and choose to live our lives for God. http://louiethebunny.blogspot.com/2010/08/bridge-story-of-sacrifice.html
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Remember the time you have accepted Christ as your personal Lord
and Saviour and upon remembering you’ll be reminded also the sacrifice Christ
did for us. Let’s ask ourselves, “How long have you been a Christian?” Can we
name some sacrifices we have done? Or in contrary, can we recall many the times
we have disobeyed God instead? Sometimes the years we have been a Christian
leads to become complacent in the ministry which make us feel “nothing” or it’s
like we don’t feel the presence of God. If we don’t be aware and watchful, we
will depart from God’s presence. People
around you may not notice that you’re starting to go astray but you see and
feel it by yourself. For now you are a
silent but don’t wait for the time that your lukewarm situation is so evident.
Do you
have ideas what happen to Christians who draw away from God’s presence?
2 Peter 2:22 (KJV)
But it is happened unto them according to the true
proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed
to her wallowing in the mire.
Your
life is worse compare to the time you were not Christian. Imagine the kind of life, “eating your
vomit,” describes in this verse.
Don’t
wait for situations in your life become complicated. If this happens, it’s very
hard for you to go back. You already
knew God sacrifices on the cross but in our lesson for today, I pray this would
help you consider not just His sacrifices but also HIS WOUNDS!
LESSON OUTLINE:
1)
THE CONTUSED WOUND (
MICAH 5:1; MATT. 27:29-30; JOHN 18:22)
-
Jesus Christ had this wound when they smote (paghampas in tagalog) Him. This is a
wound produced by a blunt object (pasa in tagalog). Such a wound should result
from being struck with a rod, as foretold in Micah 5:1. The event is recorded
in Matthew 27:29- 30 and a similar type of injury in John 18:22.
“And when they had
platted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and a reed in his right
hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of
the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
-
After the arrest in the middle of the night,
Jesus was next brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, the High Priest; it is
here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus
across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiphus. The palace
guards then blind-folded Him
and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon
Him, and struck Him in the face. https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/words/Blindfolded
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Everyone experience contusion and we know personally what the
feeling of having one contusion. When it is touched it is so painful and
imagine our Lord Jesus Christ experienced many contusions on his body.
2)
THE LACERATED WOUND
(ISAIAH 50:6, MATT.27:26, JOHN 19:1)
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A wound produced by a tearing instrument. Lacerations in Jesus suffering were produced by scourging or
whipping (pagbubogbog in tagalog). The
scourge was made of thongs each tipped with bone or metal. Christ would have
received such a wound (paglaslas in tagalog) from the scourging. Prophesied in
Isaiah 50:6 and fulfilled in Matthew 27:26 and John 19:1. Eusebius describes
not specifically Christ’s scourging, but rather the typical pre-crucifixion
scourging by the Romans and note the following: many bled to death before being
crucified, in many cases not only was the back of the person scourged cut open
in all directions, but the eyes were torn out, the face and breast were torn
open and often teeth knocked out.
-
A Roman implement for severe bodily punishment. Horace calls it
horribile flagellum. It consisted of a handle, to which several cords or
leather thongs were affixed, which were weighted with jagged pieces of bone or
metal, to make the blow more painful and effective. It is comparable, in its
horrid effects, only with the Russian knout. The victim was tied to a post (Acts 22:25) and the blows were applied to the back and loins, sometimes
even, in the wanton cruelty of the executioner, to the face and the bowels. In
the tense position of the body, the effect can easily be imagined. So hideous
was the punishment that the victim usually fainted and not rarely died under it. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/scourge-scourging/
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Have you imagined the kind of scourging Romans
did to Jesus?
3)
THE ABRASED WOUND (JOHN
19:16-17, MATT.27:32, MARK 15:20-21; LUKE 23:26)
-
It is caused by some object rubbing or scraping against the skin
(sobrang paggasgas ng balat). Christ would have suffered this type of wound
when He was forced to carry the wooden cross upon His back. We must realize that this was His back that
was already torn upon by scourging. John 19: 16-17, Matthew 27:32, Mark
15:20-21 and Luke 23:26. His physical condition was so poor that He could not
continue to carry the cross and Simon was compelled to carry the remainder.
4)
THE PENETRATING WOUND
(MATT,27:29; JOHN 19:2) (bumaon na sugat)
-
It is a deep wound caused by a sharp-pointed instrument. This
happened to Jesus when they placed upon His head a “crown of thorns,” Matthew
27:29 and John 19:2. These wounds were undoubtedly deepened when they smote Him
on the head with the reed, Matthew 27:20.
5)
THE PERFORATING
WOUNDS (JOHN 20: 24-29)
-
The perforating wound (butas-butas) is one that pierces through
the body at some point. When Christ was crucified, they drove metal spikes
through Him. The evidence of this wound when doubting Thomas mentioned it in
John 20:25.
6)
THE INCISED WOUND (JOHN
19:34)
-
The incised wound (paghiwa) is a cut produced by a sharp edged
instrument. Jesus Christ received this type of wound when the Roman soldier
thrust his spear into Christ’s side to ensure that He was dead.
CONCLUSION:
We know the great sacrifice Christ did in order
for us to redeem from the penalty of sin but the details of his sacrifices are
sometimes ignored by some. Honestly, from 1991-2004, I knew not the details of
Christ crucifixion; I just heard some from preaching and sermon but to
personally and intentionally read it, no! That’s why when I watched the movie,
I can’t control my emotions. When the movie was out, there were some against
and said, “This movie was so cruel and it’s not true” but Bible says in Isaiah
53:2, “For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him,” this verse shows
what sufferings he experienced (no beauty in him).
What wounds do we have at this moment? (elaborate)
Were these wounds of Jesus enough to lead us back to God?
