NS Ministries

“Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out to the place called "The Place of the Skull" (called in Aramaic Golgotha).  There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.” (John 19:16 – 19:18)

John identified Jesus as the person Pilate handed over to be crucified.  But guess what?  Life has handed you over to be crucified as well!  But before going further allow me to turn back the pages of history because before the crucifixion there was the merciless beating and the de-humanization.

“In reply all the people said, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"  Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's residence and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe around him, and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: "Hail, king of the Jews!" They spat on him and took the staff and struck him repeatedly on the head. When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” (Matthew 27:25 – 27:31)

If you have seen the movie “The Passion of the Christ” you will have witnessed a VERY REAL depiction of the beating that was inflicted on Jesus.  I remember each time the flogging devices would wail into his back I would cringe.  Each time I saw the satisfaction on the faces of the Roman Soldiers when a new wound would open up I would get angrier and angrier. 

“How can they do that?  No man in his right mind would want to inflict that kind of punishment on another human being,” I would say to myself. 

“How can Jesus endure such a merciless unprovoked beating?” I added. 

I don’t have the answers all I know is they did and he did.

But here’s the kicker you and I both know that life has beaten the hell out of you also!  Sure it wasn’t with a flogging device made of leather and lead balls the instruments used in your beatings was much worse.  There were the times when people (sometimes your own family members) turned against you leaving you alone for no reason.  There were the times of doubt when your health went sour leaving you seemingly with no future.  There were times when you’ve doubted your own worthiness.  There were the times when life told you even God didn’t care about you.  There were the times when life told you Jesus had abandoned you.  And now in the midst of a chaotic world that is experiencing unprecedented conflicts of war, poor economy, poverty, and uncertainty the leather straps and the lead balls continue reopen old wounds and open new ones.

Life has beaten the hell out of you! 

And now you are slowly and painfully stumbling toward a cross. 

And the cross will further beat the hell out of you!

And the news cannot get any better than that! 

Life’s flogging and cross will beat the hell out of you!  

And I say again the news cannot get any better than that!

Somehow in the midst of all the beatings, somehow on a cross hell will be replaced by a new kingdom, God’s kingdom.  I know that to be a FACT because each time the flogging device comes in contact with your fragile flesh the HOLY SPIRIT replaces the pain with a blessing, a blessing of life, not physical life but the Spiritual Life of the Father himself.  And the life the Father gives swells up into his kingdom while you are here on earth but his eternal kingdom when you are no longer physically alive.

Jesus was beaten.

You were beaten and are being beaten.

Jesus embraced his cross.

You will embrace your cross.

Jesus once dead now alive.

You dying will and even now are alive.

What life attempts to destroy Jesus restores!

“Suddenly there was a severe earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descending from heaven came and rolled away the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were shaken and became like dead men because they were so afraid of him. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come and see the place where he was lying.’”  (Matthew 28:2 – 28:6)

As you finish reading Easter 2010 Journey to the Empty Tomb God has sent an Angel (not me) to you with a message. 

“When the adversities and difficulties seem rage out of control in your life look not at what you see but feel the life of the Master pulsing in you.  Remember the beatings and the cross upon which the hell was beat out of you IS AND WILL BE replaced by the indescribable peace of a Savior that did it all long before you were ever born.  Easter 2010 is the year of your coming of age in the Kingdom of God!  Live and be blessed.  Amen!”

We live in a world of symbols; symbols are word pictures for many the symbol of Easter is the Cross however as important as the Cross is the real symbol of Easter is the Empty Tomb.  I say that because if the Cross is all there is or if we fail to see beyond the Cross we are doomed.  But the Cross is not all there is there’s the Tomb but not just a Tomb but an empty one! 

And out of the Empty Tomb you were brought to life!