Jesus Bore The Cross For Me, Part Two
Jesus Bore The Cross For Me, Part Two
We continue considering this week the seven sayings of Christ from the Cross. As we meditate on these sayings, we realize more fully just how much He loves us, has always loved us, and will always love us. Last week we meditated on the first three of these profound and deeply moving sayings:
1. “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.
2. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
3. “Woman, behold your son.” “Behold your mother.”
Before we move on, take a few moments to meditate once again on these words we considered last week:
JESUS BORE THE CROSS FOR ME
Jesus bore the cross for me,
Jesus bore the cross for you,
Our Savior chose to die
so we could live with Him.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
God’s own eternal plan
led Jesus to the cruel cross
to take the sting of death
and crush the serpent’s head.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
The serpent did his worst,
he offered all he had,
he spoke his boldest lies
but Jesus spoke God’s Word.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
The Pharisees set traps,
the Sadducees sowed doubt,
the Romans mocked the King,
but Jesus chose to die.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
Peter denied his Lord,
disciples ran away,
they left Him all alone
while Jesus chose to die.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
Mary stood with her son,
John stood beneath the cross,
some stood close by and mocked,
but Jesus died for love.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
The soldiers did their job,
cast lots for His dear robe.
Would they call His own name?
Jesus, the Son of God.
I praise Him with my heart,
I choose Him with my soul.
I believe Him with my mind,
I serve Him with my strength.
Too often we forget the spiritual suffering Jesus endured on the Cross. We forget the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in all eternity. We forget the Holy Fellowship they treasured as One God in Three Persons. We forget the many times in Jesus’s earthly life when He left the disciples and all the crowds to spend time with His Father. Jesus obviously held dear the Oneness He enjoyed within the Trinity. In coming to live among us as His People He surrendered a bit of that Oneness. But that was nothing to be compared with His accepting to become the Sacrificial Lamb on The Cross, bearing all of our sin. So Holy God in His perfect righteousness turned away from Him for the first time in eternity. For the very first time Jesus experienced the loneliness of being separated from God. As awful as His physical suffering was, this excruciating spiritual isolation was worse. No wonder He cried, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Here is a stark picture of those who never make Jesus their Lord and Savior, and as a result, choose separation from God forever. What a terrifying prospect. We can only marvel at such love as this: that Jesus would endure this deepest suffering of all so that we could claim His Covering to keep us from this, the very worst of Hell.
Jesus Suffered This For Me
Jesus suffered this for me,
He came down from Heaven’s Perfection
where God’s will is done
to fight sin’s war on earth.
Never had He known hunger.
Never had He experienced thirst.
Never had He felt
the pain of loneliness.
Never had He called on God
but not felt His immediate Love.
Never had be borne
the weight of sin and death.
Never had He felt the fear
of walking in eternal darkness.
Never had He lost
in grief and pain, all hope.
Jesus had never known
being lost without God’s own Love.
Jesus chose to bear our
Cross without God, alone.
When Jesus cried out, “I thirst,” His body was desperately crying out due to the intense dehydration He was enduring, due to intense blood loss. He body was not only losing blood, but was sweating heavily under the strain of his suffering and pain. His body was, indeed, thirsty. And yet His soul was even more terribly thirsty. The Father was absent, as was the Spirit. As the Scapegoat He had to bear the horrible weight of all of our sins alone. No one else could bear this suffering. This suffering could not be effectual unless it was borne by the perfect Lamb of God. It could not offer us cleansing and forgiveness. So, when we listen to Jesus cry out, “I thirst,” we need to consider how deeply He chose to suffer so that He could lift off of each of us who call upon Him as Savior, the awesome weight of sin we, ourselves have borne. As we gaze upon the Cross, Jesus and His suffering should break our hearts with remorse. As we realize how heavy is the physical and the spiritual load He lifted for us, we can only cry, “Jesus, we thank You. We praise You. We love You.”
Jesus, We Thank You
Jesus, we thank You
for all you have done for us—
how You thirsted upon
the Cross,
Jesus, we praise You,
we love You.
Jesus, we thank You
for all you have done for us—
as all alone You bore
all such suffering
we should have borne,
we love you.
Jesus, we thank You
for all you have done for us—
crying out in anguish,
”I thirst,” even as our
Living Water,
we love you.
Jesus, we thank You
for all you have done for us—
all dried up in spirit
without the Father and
the Spirit,
we love you.
