Thurs.’s Devo - The Crucifixion

Read: Exodus 35:10-36:38; Matthew 27:32-66; Psalm 34:1-10; Proverbs 9:7-8 God called all the craftsmen to go to work on constructing everything he had shown Moses on the mount. People brought cloth, thread, gold, silver, gem stones…everything they needed to make the things for the tabernacle. All the artisans got to use their gifts for the Lord instead of for the Egyptians. I can’t imagine the joy they had in creating all these beautiful things for the Lord. Bezealel and Oholiab were the leaders for the craftsmen. *** The people gave so much, they had to ask them to stop giving. They made the frames and the curtains. The frames were overlayed with gold and the curtains were hung on gold hooks. *** In Matthew, the Roman guards were taking Jesus to be crucified after they had mocked him and lacerated his back with whips. They grabbed Simon from Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross. Jesus’ own Simon had denied him, so they had to get a total stranger to help him carry his cross. *** They chose the place called Golgotha which means “Place of the Skull.” They offered Jesus some medicine to dull his pain but when he realized what it was, he refused to take it. *** They nailed him to the cross and gambled for his clothes. A sign was posted saying “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Two sinners were crucified at the same time, one on either side of him. As people passed him they shouted accusations. They had hoped that he was going to save them and now he was dying. It looked to them like he had betrayed them, so they were angry. The priests mocked him with his own words. *** At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three. What happened during this time is described in Psalm 18. God was in the darkness, clothed in a cloud. When the light came back, Jesus cried out to the Lord for leaving him. Jesus was quoting Psalm 22. He was pointing the people to that song because it described his death. The earth shook so violently that tombs were opened and the bodies of many godly men and women came out of their graves and walked the streets of Jerusalem appearing to many. *** When all this happened the Roman soldiers were terrified. That was when they realized that Jesus was the Son of God. I wonder how they felt about what they had done to Jesus. *** The women that followed Jesus had not abandoned him. They stood watching from afar. Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Pilate gave an order to give it to him. He took Jesus’ body and wrapped him in a linen cloth and placed him in his own tomb and rolled a stone in front of it. The Mary’s watched all this so they would know where Jesus’ body was. *** The next day… on the Sabbath, the leading priests and Pharisees did something they would have deemed as ‘work’. They went to Pilate and asked him if her would put a seal on the rock in front of his tomb to keep his disciples from stealing his body and claiming that he rose from the grave. Boy have they got a surprise waiting for them! *** Pilate posted guards and sealed the tomb. All they did was to make his resurrection more plausible. *** Lord, you had this all planned from the beginning of time just for our salvation! We are so grateful! Thank you for our salvation.