Title: He Chose the Nails
Theme: To show Christ’s compassion on the Cross.
Text: Colossians 2:13-14
Note: with help from Max Lucado’s book "He Chose the Nails"
Col 2:13 (KJV) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Col 2:13 (CEV) You were dead, because you were sinful and were not God’s people. But God let Christ make you alive, when he forgave all our sins. 14 God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross.
Introduction
Today is a day of celebration. This is commonly known as Palm Sunday and commerates the day that Jesus walked through the crowd as a victor and they praised and worshiped him with palms. It was a glorious day that would herald in the dark day. What we call Good Friday but from the outset it would seem to say, “What is so good about this Friday?”
The picture is one of horror. Through the crowds you could hear the murmur. There comes a man beaten and ridiculed, carrying a cross. Hardly recognizable from the torture that has been administered.
So weak that he needed assistance to carry it the full length. Yet the picture gets worse. They finally arrive on that hill called Golgotha. Nothing ever happened on Golgotha but death. You see Golgotha is the “place of the skull”.
As they arrive the soldiers shove the Carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it.
Jesus could have stopped them
Could Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of the biceps, with a clinch of the fist, he could have resisted. Is this not the same hand that stilled the sea? Made the cords of wip and cleansed the temple? Summoned the death with just a spoken word? Surely he could have resisted.
But the fist doesn’t clinch, the biceps doesn’t flex . . . and the moment isn’t stopped.
Can you hear the hammer ring as it hits the nail, skin rips and blood begins to drip and finally pour. Then the question is asked, even by his enemies, “Why? Why didn’t Jesus resist?”
Why didn’t those hands that healed the blind and make the lame to walk deny the pain that was felt? Why?
“Because he loved us,”. Such a good answer but we are not done yet. For you see that is only partially true though. There is more to his reason. Understand, he saw something that made him stay. As the solider pressed his arm, Jesus rolled his head to the side, and with his cheek resting on the wood he saw:
A hammer? Yes
A nail? Yes
The soldiers hand? Yes
He looked and saw the Hand of God
But he saw something else. He saw the hand of God. It appeared to be the hand of a man. Long fingers of a woodworker. The Callous palms of a carpenter. It looked common. It was, however, anything but.
These are the very fingers that formed Adam out of clay and carved the word in clay tablets.
With a wave, this hand toppled Babel’s tower and split the Red Sea. Egyptians remember this hand when they think of the locusts that plagued their homeland. Or Elijah as he was fed by the raven.
No wonder the Psalmists proclaims, “You drove out the nations with your hand . . . It was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance” Ps 44:2-3.
It was the hand of God almighty.
Oh the hands of Jesus. Hands of the incarnation at his birth. You see he is “God with us” as the angel proclaimed to Joseph at the birth of Jesus. Hands of deliverance as he healed the blind and made the lame to walk again. These are hands of inspiration as he taught the disciples and hands of service as he washed their feet. But most of all these are hands of salvation. As was prophesied at his birth “and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
Purpose of the nails was more than just to hold his hands
As the crowd looked on they concluded that the purpose of the pounding was to keeps his hands on the beam. They could never be so wrong. Oh we can’t fault them for missing. They did not understand. Even his own disciples did not understand as a matter of fact it was not until after the resurrection did his mother understand the true purpose of her son. But it was not the nails that held him to the cross it was his love for you and me.
But the nails had a purpose. As they were driven through his hands and the blood began to pour they were also holding another piece of article to the beam.
The KJV calls them a “handwriting of ordinances”. What it simply means is a listing of our debts that we owe. A writing of our offenses.
As above Christ head there was a sign that listed the crime that he committed (This is the King of the Jews” this was his crime, but was it an offense or the truth) so with his hand was nailed a list of our offenses or sins that we have committed.
This is not a short list it is a long list. It contains all the lusts and lies and greedy moments that we have had. It contains our bad decisions and our bad attitudes. Notice it is in broad daylight for every one to see.
Yet it cannot be read. You see those at the top are covered by his hand and those below are covered by his blood. The Bible tells us that they are “blotted out”.
Another translation of Col 2:14 reads, “He has forgiven you all your sins: he has utterly wiped out the written evidence of broken commandments which always hung over our heads, and has completely annulled it by nailing it to the cross.”
This is why he refused to close his fist. He saw the list! What kept him from clenching or flexing? This warrant, this listing of your failures. He knew that the price for those sins was death. He knew the source of those sins was us, and since he couldn’t bear the thought of eternity without me and you, HE CHOSE THE NAILS!
You see the hand squeezing the handle was not a Roman solider.
The force behind the hammer was not an angry mob.
Jesus himself chose the nails.
So the hands of Jesus opened up. If the solider had hesitated, Jesus himself would have swung the hammer. Don’t forget he knew how, he was no stranger to driving nails. As a carpenter he knew what it took. And as a Savior he knew what it meant. He knew that the purpose of the nails was to place your sins where they could be hidden by his sacrifice and covered by his blood.
Jesus himself swung the hammer.
The same hand that calmed the sea calmed the guilt in our soul.
The same hand that cleansed the temple cleanses our heart.
This hand is the hand of God.
The nail is the nail of God.
Conclusion
And as the hands of Jesus opened for the nail, the doors of heaven are opened for you. The only thing that is stopping our forgiveness is ourselves. If we don’t believe and receive our forgiveness it is as “having the money of a millionaire yet living in poverty.”
Surely this day is a day of celebration. Why? Because he chose the nails and it was satisfied in the tomb and completed in the resurrection. Will this be your day of celebration?
