By Jamie Tisler

Betrayed,

Bound

Arrested

Abandoned

Denied

Questioned

Falsely & Vehemently Accused

Spat Upon

Beaten

Slapped

Sentenced to Death

Stripped

Scourged

Crucified

Mocked

Forsaken by God

The final hours of Jesus life were hellacious and the atrocities above confirm this. Why did he have to endure these atrocities? “For our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). I think about the enormity of my own sin, and I also recall that “all have sinned” throughout the ages, and the magnitude of sin is before me.

God cannot close a “blind eye” to sin; it would go against His holiness to do so. Even if I had only committed one sin, and every other person had only committed one sin, He could not leave sin unpunished. Jesus took the punishment for me and others on the cross that awful day so we could be forgiven, and we could have a right relationship with God. As a sinner, I had to respond to what he accomplished over the course of three days. I confessed with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believed in my heart that God raised Him from the dead on the third day. My life has never been the same since.

What will my final hours be like? I have no way of knowing that, however, I want to emulate Jesus, “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 12:2). Indeed, I want to endure because I know there is a place waiting for me, and the joy will be the presence of the Lord.

Father God, Thank you for Jesus. All the suffering He endured for a sinner like me lets me know how much I am loved by You. Help me to endure to the end with great joy, being mindful that to be absent with the body is to be present with You. In the magnificent name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.