Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Let’s assume for a minute that there is no resurrection. The apostle Paul follows that thought in his first letter to the Corinthians and comes up with at least six results.

Too often Christians try to take the hideousness out of death. In doing so, however, we cut short the grieving process. We’re so eager to rush to the end and show the hope beyond the grave that we don’t deal adequately with the pain that accompanies death.

The theme threaded from Genesis to Revelation is the plague of death, and all humanity has the disease. Being fallen creatures, we don’t want to face it. We try to anesthetize ourselves against it with denial and isolation.

Imagine what it must have been like for Jesus’ disciples and followers, who had just seen His bruised and broken dead body taken from the cross and buried.

Resurrection comes from resurge or resurgence, in the sense of “coming back” or “renewing” or “rising up.” In other words, Jesus Christ, who was once down, dead, laid aside, crucified, later stood up miraculously and bodily. He “resurged.” He came back to life, never to die again.

Imagine yourself a member of the jury in a courtroom, preparing to decide one of the oldest cases in history: The People vs. Jesus of Nazareth.

Do you know how Jesus learned obedience? Through lessons taught severely. Critics’ words, people’s actions, six illegal trials, unfair treatment, mocking, scourging, and, ultimately, torturous death—all reveal the Son’s obedience.

Our Lord has modeled the art of dying. Though mercilessly tortured, He refused to retaliate. Though seared by pain from thorns thrust on His head and iron spikes nailed through His hands and feet, He remained emotionally under control.

Since the earliest days, faithful Jewish parents have taught their children prayers to repeat at certain times of the day. Often, these prayers come directly from the book of Psalms. One such prayer is an evening prayer, from Psalm 31:5: “Into Thy hand I commit my spirit.”

How do we know that Christ’s atonement satisfied God the Father and fully covered humankind’s sin? First, the veil of the temple which separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, where the presence of God resided was torn in two.

Jesus’ sixth statement on the cross was not a cry of anguish; it was a declaration of victory. He had reached the goal and was able to say, “It is finished. Mission accomplished. It’s over.”

Though Jesus became a man, He never was anything less than God. Yet He voluntarily gave up His own rights as God the Son. He submitted Himself to God the Father, so that every word He spoke was as God had Him speak it, and every act was done precisely as God would have Him do it.

Jesus barely clung to life. He was still pushing Himself up against the raw wooden beam to breathe, and then he would slump back down, hanging from the iron nails in His hands. Up and down . . . up and down. The pain must have been maddening by now.

What a contrast we have at the cross! God’s perfect sacrifice—His Lamb—hung there in agony, giving His life, shedding His blood for the sins of the world.

We are not surprised to find a God-ordained and therefore significant reason behind the arrangement of Golgotha’s three crosses. It gave Jesus an opportunity to reach out in hope and compassion to those desperately in need.

Though I realize it had to be, though I understand what it accomplished, and though I know that a brilliant dawn awaited Him who endured the darkest of all days, I am unable to shake free from the sound of those square nails being pounded into place.

Crucifixion ranks right up there on the short list of the most painful and torturous deaths ever devised. In the first century, the cross meant death . . . but not just any death. It meant the most hideous, anguished death imaginable.

Knowing in his heart that Jesus was innocent, Pilate compromised his convictions to appease the people and turned Him over to the mob. His fear of people was greater than his fear of God.

Jesus of Nazareth had a magnificent obsession: the cross. He was consumed by a compelling sense of divine providence, and each day of His adult life drew Him inexorably closer to the fulfillment of His mission.

Although he never appears on center stage, Barabbas played a major role. Having been convicted and condemned to die, his cell was most likely located in the fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem.