⁸ First he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’– though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Heb 10:9-10

The story of Jesus dying on a cross is not some fairy tale. It’s a real story of a man who died. It was gory; his body was disfigured beyond recognition; there was blood everywhere. He died! Isaiah 53 uses words that describe what Jesus went through: “He was pierced”, “He was crushed”, “He was oppressed and afflicted”, and verse 10 summarises that “it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer”.

The wages of sin is death and God’s requirement has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Often, I will take time to consider the cross in its graphic detail. When I can’t take the sight any more, what follows is “thank you Jesus” because you suddenly realise that it was no small thing and that what he chose to go through most of us couldn’t go through and that he must have had a cause that was far greater than the pain and prospect of death. Jesus, the Lamb of God, in silent obedience took on suffering and ultimately death as a sacrifice once for all time. Today let us allow ourselves to be moved to a deep sense of gratitude and admiration for Jesus, our Hero, who gave up his life!

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