Hey everyone! It's been too long since I have posted, but things are quite hectic around here with work, school, and Nationals for debate coming up. So, I am terribly sorry. Please forgive me? :)
So, as the title mentions, the song "Alive" by Natalie Grant is stuck in my head. I had heard it before, but I really meditated on the lyrics while I was driving home from my eye doctor appointment (Oh, and my eyes are just fine. Nothing's changed- not that it even mattered. I just hate saying something and not explaining because people over think things.). I think the lyrics are absolutely beautiful. Oh! Here's the lyrics, you know, in case you don't have time to actually listen to the song:
Who but You, could breathe and leave a trail of galaxies and dream of me?
What kind of Love is writing my story till the end with Mercy’s pen?
Only You.
What kind of king would choose to wear a crown that bleeds and scars to win my heart?
What kind of Love tells me I’m the reason He can’t stay inside the grave?
You. Is it You? Standing here before my eyes, every part of my heart cries
Alive! Alive! Look what Mercy’s overcome; Death has lost and Love has won
Alive! Alive! Hallelujah, Risen Lord, the only One I fall before
I am His because He is alive.
Who could speak, and send the demons back from where they came with just one Name?
What other heart would let itself be broken every time till He healed mine?
You. Only You could turn my darkness into dawn; running right into Your arms
Alive! Alive! Look what Mercy’s overcome; Death has lost and Love has won
Alive! Alive! Hallelujah, Risen Lord, the only One I fall before
I am His because He is
Emmanuel, the promised King the baby who made angels sing
Son of Man who walked with us, healing, breathing in our dust
The author of all history, the answer to all mysteries
The Lamb of God who rolled away, the stone in front of every grave
Alive! Alive! Look what Mercy’s overcome; Death has lost and Love has won
Alive! I am His because He is alive.
Alive!
... However, you should still listen to the song, eventually, because Natalie Grant's voice is phenomenal. Seriously.
The lyrics are so visual and beautifully crafted that I actually lost focus while I was driving, but it was ok because I was at a red light. But seriously... The lyrics, "What kind of King would choose to wear a crown that bleeds and scars to win my heart," are so powerful alone. Just that one line alone packs a powerful punch. Think about it for a moment. How many kings how you studied about that would do that? Oh sure, there were great kings who took care of their people and protected them, but do you think they would have placed a crown of thorns on their head to win your heart? Would you have mattered to those other kings?
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| Passion of the Christ: Crown of thorns after scourging |
I just want to take a few moments to focus on the time frame from when Jesus first went to Pilot to the crown being placed on his head. It wasn't like he was simply betrayed by his own people, the crown was placed on his head, and he walked off to the cross. Nope, not even close. The reason that line of the song hits me so hard is because of everything Jesus went through before the crown was placed on him. You see, Pilot didn't find any faults in the people, but he was essentially overpowered by the crowd. The entire crowd wanted Jesus killed for teaching against the Pharisees. So, as a compromise, he decided to punish Jesus severely by being scourged so if he brought Jesus back to the crowd afterward, they might take pity on the man.
What exactly did being scourged entail?
Well, the Romans had torture perfected down to a science, and they had discovered that a person could survive 40 lashes during flogging, but they limited it down to 39 so no one broke the law. So, Jesus was whipped with a switch, but he continued to stand and didn't say a word. That didn't please the Romans and they had Jesus flogged 39 times before the men were forced to stop. Flogging wasn't just being whipped with a switch, either. Oh no, that would have been too merciful. Roman flogging was designed to essentially rake a person's back. The whip, or flagrum, would have been made with leather strips that had a variety of pain devices attached to the bottom of the leather strips including beads, scraps of metal, shards of glass, and bones. The beads and other various pain devices would create deep contusions while the leather strips alone would cut the person's back. However, once the objects, such as bone, were embedded into the skin, the Romans would pull on the whip so it went directly across the criminals back and shredded it.
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| Passion of the Christ : Jesus being flogged. |
Now, Jesus wasn't only flogged from behind. Once his back was destroyed, the men turned him over and flogged the front side of his body. By the time the Romans would have finished, literally chunks of his skin and tissue would have been missing from his body. Isaiah described what Jesus would look like before the crucifixion in 52:14 when he says,
" As many were astonished at you,
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,and his form beyond that of the children of mankind. "
And truly, he wouldn't have looked human. No matter how graphic movies and depictions may be of the crucifixion, we simply cannot capture what that moment looked like.
After the scourging, after all of the excruciating pain, and after all of the disfiguring blows that Jesus received, they placed a purple robe around his raw wounds, mocking him as the king of the Jews...
...and THEN two men placed the crown of thorns on his head. And that's only the physical torture that he endured! He was also spit on, slapped, and mocked throughout the entire punishment.
So, after all of the torture he endured by being scourged, he chose to silently take the pain from the thorns. Jesus could have simply decided to call it quits. In John 10:18, Jesus says, "No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded." He could have shown them proof that he was the Messiah and stopped the torture, but what good would that have done for our sins? For us? Jesus was the perfect lamb, and he loved us so much that he took the crown in silent agony before being sent back to the people, and to ultimately be crucified. Jesus wanted to save us, and he knew he had to die for us for God's wrath to be satisfied.
To me, that's powerful. I get all fired up just thinking about it! I try to think about the pain my Savior endured, and I simply can't. I mean, I freak out when I stub my toe or get a nasty scrape. I can't picture missing chunks of my flesh. I simply can't. He loved me enough to go through with that! He could have stopped it at any time, but he didn't because of his love for me and for all of man kind. All of us! Including the men who beat him and spit on him! Can you even picture that?
So, I go back to my original question that I got from this song: How many kings do you know who would take that thorn of crowns to win your heart?
I only know one King, my friend, and it's the King of Kings- My Jesus. My personal savior, my father, my teacher, and my King. The one true King whose love is eternal. I can certainly can tell you He has won my heart.
Now, has He won yours?
I pray that if he hasn't, please read the book of Mark in the Bible. It doesn't matter what you've done in your life, and it doesn't matter what anyone tells you- Jesus came to Earth, took that beating and crown, and he died on that cross for you. He loves you.
Do you love Him?
God Bless
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