CROSSES ARE FOR DYING

Reading: Isaiah 53:4-12

Introduction:

When some folks think of a cross

they may think of something

that's polished gold,

something attractive and shiny,

something beautiful.

They may think of a beautiful cross

hanging from a gold necklace

or perhaps on gold earrings.

They may think of something to decorate

something appealing to the eyes.

something that people wear proudly.

Others may think of a white cross on a headstone in a cemetery

Maybe they have seen a cemetery

where all the headstones

have a white cross on the top

all lined up row upon row.

This morning, when you think of a cross

I want you to think instead of something

more nearly related to

a gallows,

a hangman's noose,

a gas chamber

a syringe carrying a lethal injection,

an electric chair,

or the guillotine.

That's more like the cross where Jesus died.

Not something pretty, and shiny,

but something designed to kill

and execute

with the greatest of pain

and agony

in a most horrible,

and terrible,

and shameful way.

Luke 9: 23 Jesus applied it to you and me when he said:

“If anyone wishes to come after Me,

let him deny himself,

and take up his cross daily,

and follow Me.

Crosses were not meant making life easier

They were designed to die upon.

In 70 AD the Romans destroyed Jerusalem

30,000 crosses in Jerusalem

Crosses were made for dying

A humiliating death

an agonizing death:

Sometimes a man would linger 2-3 days

That's why Pilate was amazed

when it was reported

that Jesus had died

after only 6 hours on the cross.

However, A Roman citizen could not be crucified

Cicero, was a great Roman orator who died in 43 BC:

He wrote,

"Not only let the cross

be absent from the presence

of Roman citizens,

but it's very name

from their thoughts and ears."

Romans didn't want to THINK about a cross.

They didn't evem want

to HEAR about a cross.

In anothe place CICERO wrote that crucifixion was

"the most terrible and most cruel torture."

In the Roman Republic,

crucifixion was

the ultimate punishment

for someone who committed

a capital offense,

--but ONLY for those

who were not Romans.

Roman citizens who committed such crimes

might be sentenced to work in the mines,

which was itself

it's own kind of death sentence.

But Crosses were for the scum of earth

for the worst of criminals,

yes, and for slaves,

but not for Roman citizens.

In 71 BC, Spartacus was a Roman slave,

He was being trained

in the gladiators' school at Capua, Italy.

But he escaped

and led a slave revolt,

and gathered many runaway slaves about him,

In 72 BC

he dominated much of Southern Italy.

But finally he was killed in battle.

and they crucified some 6,000 captured slaves.

Perhaps you saw the movie Spartacus:

There were lines of crosses

as far as the eye could see

with the slaves who were crucified on them.

Many thousands died on crosses in the Roman Empire

But there's a difference between those,

and the death of JESUS

on the cross:

In the first place

when Jesus died,

He died for us.

The others may have been punished

for their OWN terrible crimes,

but ONLY JESUS died for us.

Only Jesus died for OUR sins

And secondly,

Jesus is the only one, who,

after he was crucified,

AROSE AGAIN from the dead.

A Moslem once mockingly said to a Christian

"We know where OUR prophet is buried,

and we can see his tomb

in the great mosque at Medina.

but you don't even KNOW where

your prophet is buried.

The Christian replied,

Well, yes, there is a difference there.

but that's because

3 days after Jesus died,

He rose again from the dead

and went back to heaven.

ON THE CROSS JESUS SUFFERED AND DIED