Jesus Carried the Cross

Music and Lyrics: Edwin M. Willmington

Jesus carried the cross for me,

Jesus carried the cross for me;

As He walked so slow,

With His head bowed low,

Jesus carried the cross for me.

Jesus bled on the cross for me,

Jesus bled on the cross for me;

As the blood flowed down,

From His thorny crown,

Jesus bled on the cross for me.

Jesus died on the cross for me,

Jesus died on the cross for me;

How He suffered scorn,

As His flesh was torn,

Jesus died on the cross for me.

Jesus carried the cross for me.

Read Isaiah 53.

I am one who faints at the sight of blood and finds trauma in the physical sufferings of others, however minor. A paper cut I can handle, but anything else and you will probably be wiping me up off the floor. I can honestly say that never ever as a child did I have a desire to enter the medical profession. So, I find it ironic that when contemplating my very existence, I must look full in the face of the most horrendous suffering ever experienced, and I must not look away.

It wasn't enough that He loved me even though I had failed Him time and again. He knew that my best intentions had caved into my sin nature more times than I could count. He knew the guilt and the sorrow we were both experiencing over a regretted word, a thoughtless action, and a willful spirit. I made Him suffer. And that was only the beginning. It couldn't be left with just the disappointment, the hurt feelings, His longing, yearning for my unreached potential. No, it was going to take much more than that for me to recognize and accept His intercession on my behalf.

I can feel the squeamishness overtake when I think about how He suffered and what I would have experienced had I not accepted His stead in my place. The chunks of flesh tearing on His back as the rough wood beam further eroded what had begun with the scourging. The metallic smell of His own blood dripping down His face, mingling with the street odor of dirt and manure and unclean bodies. Sickening. The feeling of life's vitality draining away into nothingness, coupled with total isolation and the sense of abandonment. The inability to grasp just one keep breath and the panic of suffocation closing in. There was no cool, comforting hand to stroke His brow and whisper in His ear, telling Him that soon, soon everything would be all right. The second by second struggle to not give in to blessed unconsciousness. The fight to push past the nauseating pain to stay focused on the checklist of remaining prophecies that must be fulfilled. The crushing weight of my sin that kept Him from seeing His Father just when He needed Him the most.

Yes, if it hadn't been for Jesus, that would be me. All consuming pain, gore, isolation, abandonment, life-robbing sin, separation from God. You know, if the world understood even a fraction of what was truly going on at the cross, they would call it the suicide of a crazy man. As for me, I know exactly what happened on that cross. I saw my Savior suffer my pain in obedience to love, and He died, and I died.

I'm still not very good at handling the sight of blood and suffering, but I can now live as His offspring, for the good pleasure of my Lord...and prosper in His hand, because I have looked full in the face of His suffering and did not turn away.

Food for Thought:

Reading through Isaiah 53, list everything you would have experienced and suffered had Jesus not chosen to do so in your place.

Next to the following verses, indicate how that verse encourages you and how its promise is personally manifested in your life.

Psalm 72:14; Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 63:9;

Matthew 8:17; II Corinthians 4:10; Hebrews 12:11

As you continually identify with Christ in His sufferings on the cross for your sake, how do you see Colossians 1:24 being fulfilled in your life?

Cross References:

Genesis 9:4-6...Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man."

Leviticus 5:17...Now if a person sins and does any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, though he was unaware, still he is guilty, and shall bear his punishment.

Leviticus 17:11,14...For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement....For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is in its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.'

Psalm 72:14...He will rescue their life from oppression and violence; and their blood will be precious in his sight.

Isaiah 63:9...In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them; in His love and in His mercy He redeemed them; and He lifted them and carried them all the days of old.

Ezekiel 16:54...in order that you may bear your humiliation, and fell ashamed for all that you have done when you become a consolation to them.

Matthew 8:17...in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled saying, "He Himself took our infirmities, and carried away our diseases."

John 19:17...They took Jesus therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

I Corinthians 1:17-18...For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing in foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

II Corinthians 4:10...always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

Galatians 6:14...But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Ephesians 2:16...and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

Philippians 2:8...And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Colossians 1:20...and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Colossians 1:24...Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your safe, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's afflictions.

Hebrews 12:2...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:11...All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

All lyrics reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for local church use only, without the prior permission of Kimberly H. Shoup.

shoups@ifriendly.com

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