easTEr LiNEs (Journey to the Cross)

He looked weak, helpless and worn-out
Yet He was full of power on the inside.
They laid many stripes on Him
But He had His eyes on me all along;
For the stripes worked healing in me.

Wearing a crown of thorns and a scarlet robe
With a reed in His hand;
He was the perfect caricature of a king.
The soldiers made Him so
Yet He was the King of kings.

I can almost hear the voices of the soldiers
Mocking,
“Hail, King of the Jews!”
The voice of Lucifer the fallen angel in melody
Singing,
“Oh, what a plan Elohim had! A plan indeed!
Victory is certain!
The people of the world will soon be mine forever!”

They spat on Him
They hit Him
They mocked Him
Yet He didn’t reach any elastic limit,
Indeed He had no elastic limit.
He could stretch to the ends of the world
And snap not!

Come to think of it.
He could have called down legions of angels
And the soldiers would have been no more.
[And] He would have been justified as the King;
Before the eyes of men of course.
It would indeed have felt good,
But…

He thought of me
And then gladly bore my burden;
Love.
He saw the glory ahead
And then reckoned that the sufferings of this present time
Are not worthy to be compared with the glory ahead;
Wisdom.

They led Him towards Golgotha
The weight of the wooden cross
Crushing His bones.
Simon of Cyrene took the cross
But He was still under the crushing powers of the Cross,
The sin of the whole world.

At Golgotha they gave Him a drink
Mixed with gall, a pain-killer.
Though thirsty, He drank not
For He will bear the pain fully
Just for me
Just for you.

Then they nailed Him to the cross.
With every stroke of the mallet,
The dark kingdom thought the way was closing.
The Light Kingdom knew the way was opening.
A striking contrast.

The nails invaded
The flesh ripped asunder
The bones cracked
The blood vessels ruptured
Blood sputtered!
His anatomy was a mess!
No beauty to desire.

The chief priests… the scribes… the elders
They were not left out
“You saved others; save Yourself.
If You can come down from the cross
We will believe You.”
The offer was tempting
And He could prove Himself too
But…

There was nothing to prove
He knew He was the King
He knew He was the Son of God
He knew… therefore He needed not prove.
More so,
That was not the way.
This, the cross, was the way
The Father had instructed Him thus.

12pm
Darkness
DarkNess
DARKNESS
It was upon the face of the deep
Something was about to happen
[Just] As in Genesis.

3pm
He knew it was time
He has been made sin
The Father had looked away
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”
The cry was piercing.

“Why have You forsaken Me?”
He knew the answer
[This was the way
If the world must be saved]
But His body was still a body,
It felt the pains excruciating.
But the Will of the Father He must do.

It was time
A piercing cry again
Then He yielded up the ghost.
Death
The penalty for sin.
My sin He bore
And yours too
He paid the penalty for us;
He died our death,
So we can live His life.
For in Him,
We are dead to sin
And alive unto righteousness.

Amazing things happened
The earth quaked
The rocks rent
But more amazing
Was the event at the Temple.

The veil
That veil
That separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place.
That barred people from His Presence
Allowing only the High Priest once in 365 days.
That vail was ripped from top to bottom.

Now
I can enter
You can enter
Into the Most Holy Place
Into the throne room
To behold His Beauty
Koinonia.

Now
The way is open
Not only the High Priest can enter
But all who believe
In the finished work of Jesus Christ
IN THE JOURNEY OF THE CROSS.
[Matthew 27:27-51]

©Ogbonnaya Akpoke (2017)

P.S.: Have you said YES to Jesus Christ?