Easter Weekend’s Silent Saturday

Good Friday proves the all out, stop at nothing, go all the way to death, unfaltering, persistent, inexhaustible, love of God for us. Yet, sandwiched between the horror of Jesus’ crucifixion and the glory of His resurrection—between the sorrow of Friday and the celebration of Sunday—was “the silence of Saturday.” This was a day whenContinue reading “Easter Weekend’s Silent Saturday”

Easter – He is Risen

Back at Christmas in my Advent blog, I said, “We can’t leave the Advent season without a reminder that the story doesn’t end at Christmas. We know that in Jesus’ life on earth that Christmas leads to Easter, to His death on the cross. ” This is the next part of that story.  The victoryContinue reading “Easter – He is Risen”

Good Friday – The Death of Jesus

Part 5: The Death of Jesus Two aspects of Jesus’ death have been the source of great controversy, namely, the nature of the wound in his side and the cause of his death after only several hours on the cross. The gospel of John describes the piercing of Jesus’ side and emphasizes the sudden flowContinue reading “Good Friday – The Death of Jesus”

Good Friday – The Scourging of Jesus

Part 4: Scourging of Jesus At the Praetorium, Jesus was severely whipped. (Although the severity of the scourging is not discussed in the four Gospel accounts, it is implied in one of the epistles (1 Peter 2:24). A detailed word study of the ancient Greek text for this verse indicates that the scourging of Jesus wasContinue reading “Good Friday – The Scourging of Jesus”

Good Friday – Medical Aspects of Crucifixion

Part 3: Medical Aspects of Crucifixion With a knowledge of both anatomy and ancient crucifixion practices, one may reconstruct the probable medical aspects of this form of slow execution. Each wound apparently was intended to produce intense agony, and the contributing causes of death were numerous. The scourging prior to crucifixion served to weaken the condemnedContinue reading “Good Friday – Medical Aspects of Crucifixion”

Good Friday – Crucifixion Practices

Part 2: Crucifixion Practices Although the Romans did not invent crucifixion (the Persians did), they perfected it as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering. It was one of the most disgraceful and cruel methods of execution and usually was reserved only forContinue reading “Good Friday – Crucifixion Practices”

Good Friday – Flogging Practices

Today begins a five day series on the week that lead up to Good Friday. We’ll cover the flogging, crucifixion, medical aspects, scourging, and death of Jesus. What happened to Jesus was a terrible thing for any person, but we need to recognize that this happened to the Son of God! And that He didContinue reading “Good Friday – Flogging Practices”