Observations.net

The death of God upon the Cross was the most significant event in all history. The Apostle Peter wrote:

Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

The New Testament addresses Christ taking all the sins of mankind upon Himself so that we might be saved. But most don't even begin to understand what all that entailed.

I have expressed on this website my belief that life is a school. We were created in the image of God, given will and choice, and then placed in this harsh and brutal place to learn and grow. We learn from both our successes and failures. We learn firsthand why evil is wrong through the pain that it causes. And we learn why good is right through the blessings it confers.

And through all this, God does not remain untouched. He is not a God Who merely sits on His throne in Heaven while watching us struggle. For He put aside His Godhood and came to earth. He became a man and walked among us for 33 years.

For 30 of those years, He lived an obscure life. He had brothers and sisters. He saw His adoptive human father, Joseph, die. But all of that was nothing compared to the Cross.

Humans have had to suffer horribly. Parents have watched their children die (this includes my own sister). Innocent individuals have been tortured to death. The agony of the human race has been painful to God, Himself.

But He has been no passive observer, saying "So sad. I feel sorry for you." He did the unthinkable. Everything bad that has ever happened to you or to me or all the other billions who have ever lived on this earth, happened to Jesus on the Cross. All human suffering throughout all human history was cast upon Him. He felt it all firsthand, full effect, nothing barred, nothing held back. All the wars, all the deaths, all the diseases, all the tragedies, all the emotional pain, all the fear and loathing - every single bit of it, past, present, and future, fell on Him. He experienced it all. And He was all alone. Cut off from His Godhood, cut off from His Heavenly Father, cut off from God the Holy Spirit - it was Him alone with all our pain.

The solemnity, the overwhelming weight of this event, is unfathomable to our human minds. It is totally beyond our comprehension.

But Jesus felt it all. He is a God Who knows our struggles and pain firsthand. He is not untouched.