Nailed

As a youth, my husband often went on camping trips. On one occasion some long, narrow, tapered rods were being used for the tent pegs. There was an accident. One of these pencil-thin rods went not only through his shoe, but deep into his foot. He was not a happy camper!

Many summers later, our home had to have a new roof. And it must have been that the workers were paid by the number of nails used. After the roofers left we found nails everywhere! They were on the walks, in the bushes, on the patio, in the grass; for three or more feet around the house we had a minefield of nails. Woe to anyone approaching - or leaving! With small children who loved to play outside barefooted, the potential for punctured feet was enormous. He was not a happy daddy. We scrambled to pick up as many as we could easily find, and then searched in the grass - for nails, not Easter eggs. It wasn't fun. Instead of gaily colored eggs, happy symbols of the resurrection, we searched for nails, sad symbols of the crucifixion. Then it rained. There was a new avalanche of little spikes, as many of those left on the roof now cascaded down. We might be finding these things for months! Would the yard ever be safe for the feet of playing children? Could we ever be sure we'd gotten them all? A metal detector. Their father went out and got a metal detector to search out all those small pointed dangers and insure that his little ones didn't suffer what he had. A metal rod through the foot isn't something you forget.

And to what lengths would our heavenly Father go to insure our spiritual safety and security? A Roman spike through the feet of his Son! He would do that for us. Even that. Jesus endured unimaginable suffering, so that we can have an eternal home that is totally safe and secure from all that pierces us in this life. A love like that far exceeds our ability to understand.

John 19.17-18 - They took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out to the place of the skull, or as it is called in Hebrew, Golgatha, where they crucified him with two others, one on either side with Jesus in the middle.

Psalm 22.16 - They have pierced my hands and feet.

Luke 23.44-46 - It was now about the sixth hour and, with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the middle; and when Jesus cried out in a loud voice, he said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," With these words he breathed his last.

Zechariah 12.10 - They will look on the one whom they have pierced; they will mourn for him as for an only son, and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child.

Acts 2.24 - God publicly endorsed Jesus of Nazareth by doing tremendous miracles through him, as you well know. But God, following his prearranged plan, let you use the Roman government to nail him to the cross and murder him. Then God released him from the horrors of death and brought him back to life again, for death could not keep the man within its grip. "King David quoted Jesus as saying; I know the Lord is always with me. He is helping me. God's mighty power supports me. 'No wonder my heart is filled with joy and my tongue shouts his praises! For I know all will be well with me in death -- 'You will not leave my soul in hell or let the body of your Holy Son decay. You will give me back my life, and give me wonderful joy in your presence.'

Colossians 2.13-15 - You were dead in sins, and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then he gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins, and blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. In this way God took away Satan's power to accuse you of sin, and openly displayed to the whole world Christ's triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away.