WHAT WAS IT LIKE?
by Bruce Durbin
John 3:16 expresses the faith of all Christians:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Dear God, what was it like? Sending your only begotten Son to earth?
Seeing your Son born as a man in a manger? What was it like to watch your Son
walk the earth, performing miracles, teaching the people of your love, and
delivering sermons?
When the time came, what was it like to watch from Heaven as the crowd shouted
"Crucify Him, Crucify Him"? Knowing that your son had
accepted the cup that had been offered to him and by accepting the cup, he had
to be placed on the cross.
Dear Jesus Christ, what was it like? Hearing the people that had
once called you King, now crying out "Crucify Him, Crucify Him"?
What was it like, to have nails pounded through the same hands that had made the
blind to see and the lame to walk? What was it like to have a crown of
thorns placed on the same brow where beads of sweat had turned to blood, in
prayer for the souls that would curse you?
What was it like? Being placed on a cross and hearing the taunts of
an unbelieving crowd, knowing that it was for these same people that you were on
the cross, to die for their sins. What was it like?
Enduring not only the agony of the physical pain that comes from crucifixion,
but also the soul-wrenching agony that comes from being separated from your
Heavenly Father?
What was it like? Seeing the countless generations of souls that would
curse you and reject you? As you were on the cross, did you
see the billowing clouds roll across the sky, bringing the sins of the
generations before and the generations to come? Did you hear the
screams of those already suffering in damnation? Did you hear the screams
of those that would come to know damnation?
Dear Jesus Christ, since the day that you died on the cross, shedding your blood
for the sins of all mankind, how many souls have been saved and how many souls
have been lost?
Dear God, what is it like? To see the mankind that you sought to save
through the sacrifice of your Son, still, today, through their unwillingness to
repent, shout, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him"?
* * *
Copyright 2001 by Bruce Durbin
