The Son of God hung upon a tree in humiliation before His friends, family and strangers as a man, according to Scripture, now cursed but as He all too well knew, the curse was still to come.
His beard had been plucked out by the roots, He had been beaten beyond recognition by men trained to fight from the surrounding nations that hated the children of Israel more than any other because most were descended from Esau, Ismael and Lot.
He had been scourged by cat of nine tails, an insidious nine part whip with sharp pieces of glass or bone embedded at the end to make them more effective at tearing the flesh of the person being punished.
Even now, the pain of the rough hewn wood of His execution stake was digging into His back with each breath He took and it was only eclipsed by the pain in His hands and feet where the nails pierced.
Yet the curse was coming.
Just days before Jesus had been riding into the Holy city of Jerusalem on the back of a colt, symbolic of a king in time of peace, this and the events that followed were so filled with signs that most people missed them, even His disciples.
From the Hosannas that were quoting Psalms identifying the Lord as Yeshua while the Passover lambs were being brought in the opposite gate to the Unleavened Bread being removed by the first born Son from His Father’s House to the last Seder.
That Seder had shocked many of the disciples because it was so rich and personal. There was true bitterness in the eating of the herbs dipped in mournful tears brought by the heartbreak of betrayal.
The disciples were truly amazed when He picked up the cup of redemption, the third cup after they had eaten and announced that this was His blood shed for the remission of sins, it was happening now, that precious blood flowing down the tree He now hung on and soon the curse would come.
Not only were there signs found in the Passover Seder but even in the ancient observance of the daily sacrifice made in the Temple. The continual sacrifice offered at the same time every morning and every evening coincided with the time the nails were driven into His flesh and when He gave up His Spirit and on this day as Passover lambs where sacrificed throughout the day, the Lamb of God hung on a tree.
Then it came, the curse. It was meant for every person who had sinned against God, it was death, real death namely separation from God the Father. The Son of God had never experience this, a transference of the sins of the world in exchange for His righteousness, the light of the world now shrouded in darkness.
All that He had suffered before now paled by comparison but He intended to endure what ceased long ago to be agony because of love. Jesus and His Heavenly Father loved humanity so much that all of history, the reason for creation, the centuries long planning were all intended for this moment, there would be no turning back because of you and I, He loved us.
When the fulfillment of the curse arrived it moved the living Word to speak, not just speak but cry out with what strength remained, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.” His next words were to voluntarily give up His Spirit as the wellspring of life gave up His own.
The unnatural and thick darkness was broken as realization and recognition overwhelmed a Roman soldier who proclaimed that this was indeed the Son of God. The grief that overcame the followers of Jesus the Messiah was unlike any a believer should ever bear, because they were without hope, they did not know what the next 43 days held for them, but Sunday was coming.
