Dying to Save- Living to Love

At the  age of 33,
Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.  

At that  time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals condemned to be crucified. Yet it was
Even more dreadful for Jesus, for unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was nailed to the cross by His hands and feet, rather than tied...
  Each  nail
Was 6 to 8 inches long. 
The  nails
Were driven into His wrist.  Not
Into His palms  as is commonly
Portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that 
Extends to the shoulder.  The Roman guards knew
That when the nails were being hammered into the
Wrist, that tendon would tear and
Break, forcing Jesus to use His back
Muscles to support himself, so that He could breathe.   

Jesus endured this
Reality for over 3 hours.  
Yes, 
Over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of
Suffering? A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water
From his wounds.  
From  common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side... 
But do we remember the many wounds 
Made to his body.  A hammer
Driving large nails through the wrists, the feet overlapped
And a nail hammered through the arches, then a
Roman guard piercing  His side with a spear. And...
Before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and
Beaten.  The whipping was so severe that it tore the
Flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His
Face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The
Crown of thorns (two to three inch thorns) cut deeply into His scalp. Most men
Would not have survived this torture.   

  
He had no more blood
To bleed out, only water poured from His 
Wounds.  The 
Human adult body contains about 3.5 liters
(just less than a  gallon) of blood. 

Jesus  poured all 3.5 liters of his blood;
He had three nails hammered into His
Members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond
That, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His 
Chest.. 
All  these without
Mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own
Cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd  spat in his
Face and threw stones (the cross beam was almost 30 kg of weight, to which His hands were nailed).  

 
Jesus had to endure this experience,
So that you may have free access to God. 

So that your sins can be "washed" away.
All  of them, with no exception!
Don't ignore this. 
JESUS 
CHRIST DIED...FOR YOU!   
Accept  the reality, the truth, that
JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.  

I think we, even as Christians, tend to glamorize the brutal crucifixion of Christ. While His death was the most beautiful act of grace, mercy and love it was also painful, humiliating, and I am sure emotionally draining! But, praise be to our Lord that it didn't stop there!!!

HE'S ALIVE!

God has special plans for YOU!
Really think about it!