The Wounds Of Jesus.

The topic is, THE WOUNDS OF JESUS.

Just a little history about crucifixion: Crucifixion was invented by the Persians in 300-400BC and developed, during Roman empire times, into a punishment for the most serious of criminals.

It was thought of as the most horrible, painful, tortuous, and humiliating form of execution possible, for low-life criminals (mainly runaway slaves who resorted to crime) and enemies of the state.

There most important reason as to why they subjected them to such a tortuous, slow, and humiliating death, was to warn any other slave who was thinking about escaping or committing crimes, and any enemy of state, of what could happen to *them*.

Enemies of the state had to be shown what the power of the state was. And crucifixion was how it was done. If you were a resistor to Roman military action – crucified. If you were caught attacking Roman troops – crucified. If you plotted to overthrow the local Roman government – crucified.

They would take you, strip you naked, and drag you to a public place. Your hands and feet would be nailed securely to wood and you would be left to hang in a position where you cannot fend for yourself. You would not be able move your body. You would not be able to wave off the scavenging birds. You would not be able to kick away the roaming dogs; and they would set you up as a public spectacle for people to see and mock. And this, is exactly what happened to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

And therefore, this will probably be among the most beautiful sermon I will ever preach; and the most difficult to preach. May God grant to me the Mercy and the strength to get through it.

Let us pray; “Father in Heaven, we pray, that may we, today, see Jesus. We recognise that He no longer hangs on a cross. Today, Jesus ministers as a High Priest in the Heavenly Sanctuary. He is there when we pray. He is there to forgive our sins. But today Lord, we want to see Him as He shed his blood for us. So, as we open the word of God, let the Spirit guide us in all truth. I also pray Lord, that may every Heart recognise the truth and be changed by it. This is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

Our objective today; is to understand, not just that He died, BUT why, He died.

Revelation 20:6 says, “Blessed is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such, the second death hath no power; but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ, and shall rein with him a thousand years.”

The first death is what we know about; the result of sin. All of us will die someday. But when you die in Christ, it is a sleep. It is a sleep because you will wake up when you hear the voice of Jesus.

The second death, is the eternal death for those who refuse Jesus. So, why did Jesus die on Calvary? The reason that Jesus died, is so that you and me, can avoid the second death.

And because He died in Calvary, no longer are we under the Ceremonial laws, but under the Grace of our Lord Jesus. The burdens of the ceremonial laws ended at Calvary.

Those ceremonial laws said that if you – the sinner; If you have sinned, you take a sacrifice to the temple, then you, the sinner, would have to cut open, the throat of an innocent lamb. There would be shedding of blood.

Leviticus 4:27-31 “‘If any member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, when they realize their guilt 28 and the sin they have committed becomes known, they must bring as their offering for the sin they committed a female goat without defect. 29 They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. 31 They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them, and they will be forgiven.

So, what was the function of the Ceremonial laws? The ceremonial laws were pointing forward to the real sacrifice. For one day, when Jesus finally went to the cross, the Priest was still there in the temple; knife in hand; a lamb about to die. But when Jesus declared, “It is Finished.” The priest’s hand began to tremble. The knife fell. The lamb lipped off the place of sacrifice and scampered away. Why? Because the real lamb of God had gone to the cross.