Tag: crucifixion

I Stand Amazed in the Presence

The next entry for my Blog is I Stand Amazed in the Presence, which was written by Charles H. Gabriel in 1905.  It was first released in April 9, 2021.  A link to Extended Life Fellowship singing the song is at the bottom of the Blog.

I Stand Amazed in the Presence


I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

For me it was in the garden
He prayed, “Not My will but Thine;”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.

Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden on Calv’ry,
And suffered and died alone.

Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
‘Twill be my joy thro’ the ages
To sing of His love for me.

Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be;
Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

There are a lot of songs which are focused on the trials we face in our lives and how God is there to lift us up and get our lives back on the right track.  This is a song about coming face to face with Jesus and what it might be like.  This hymn has been around for over 100 years, but the truth and hope still ring out with power and promise.  When we get our first chance to stand face to face with Jesus, I am thinking I will be completely awestruck and speechless.  Just imagine that feeling as you look into his eyes and see and feel an undying love for you.  It is so hard to understand why he would die for someone who is a sinner such as I.  We have all sinned, but Jesus forgave those sins when we accepted him as our personal savior.  Even though I am sinless in his eyes, I still have to wonder how he could love me unconditionally.  I was a sinner, I am a sinner, and will always be a sinner; but he no longer sees any of that.  I can’t help but believe that I will fall on my knees and weep uncontrollably since it was because of people like me that he had to die on the cross.

The chorus puts words into the feelings of our heart as we stand before our savior.  I believe this is the type of chorus that will be with us for eternity.  We will continue to offer up our praise to Jesus for the never-ending love he has for us.

The garden referenced in the lyrics is the Garden of Gethsemane in Israel.  This is a garden where Jesus went to pray the night of his betrayal.  We find this in Mark 14:32-36.  “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.  He took Peter, James, and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.  My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, he said to them. Stay here and keep watch. Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that, if possible, the hour might pass from him.  Abba, Father, he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”  In another scripture passage in the book of Luke, we find that Jesus prayed so hard that he sweated drops of blood.  He knew what was coming, he knew he was going to be crucified.  The man in him asked God to not let this happen, but the faith he had through the love of his father allowed him to accept his fate.  He didn’t cry tears for his own fate, he knew he was going back home to heaven; but he cried the tears for us so we could also go to our heavenly home.  He was willing to die for us, regardless of the pain he would incur; he loved us so much that on the night he accepted his death as a trade for us getting eternal life.

Jesus knew what he was facing when he accepted God’s will for him.  He did not resist his arrest nor did he make any excuses for his message of salvation to everyone he encountered.  He had seen people hanging from crosses, since that was a common form of execution by the Romans.  He saw their pain, the blood flowing from their wounds, heard their screaming, and saw their tears; but he willingly accepted his fate knowing that he would soon be joining them.  Jesus knew he was bearing the sins of the world and that the burden he was carrying at this moment was greater than any of us can begin to fathom.  He also knew, that if he did not fulfill his mission, we would be unable to spend eternity in heaven and would end up in the fiery pit of hell.  Instead, our lives would end at the time of our physical death and the grave, there would be no eternal life in heaven.  As he was dying on that cross, he became encumbered with the sins of the world; and in that brief time he was separated from God the father by the sins he was now bearing.  Imagine being separated from your child or your father; then think about how you would feel if this separation was not your fault.  Jesus essentially died alone, due to the darkness of the sins he took upon himself.  The day he died on the cross on the mount called Calvary, was one of the worst physical days anyone could endure, but it was also the most wonderful day for all of us who have accepted him as the son of God.

For those of us who have accepted the sacrifice of Christ and for those who will accept him in the future, our eternal home is secured.  We are ransomed by his death on the cross, we are no longer prisoners of our sins.  What a joy that will be, to see the one who died so I could spend eternity with my family and friends who also accepted his sacrifice.  It will for sure be a time of singing, praise, and fellowship with the one who made this happen.  I know that I will stand amazed in the presence of Jesus.   This one man, who grew up in Nazareth, a town of under 500 people, gave hope to the entire world.

Keep this verse in your heart always, from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Click to Hear Extended Life Worship Sing I Stand Amazed in the Presence

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #3 of 7

This Blog entry is focused on the single line below since I believe it is part of a powerful foundation for the rest of the song.

For when He was on the cross

We can see pictures of people on crosses, with many of these pictures based on crucifixions that took place during Roman times. In our society today, we seldom see people subjected to this type of torture and prolonged agony.
Crucifixion was designed to be gruesome, humiliating, painful, torturous, and filled with excruciating pain. The Romans seemed to have perfected the process over a 400-500 year period until Constantine stopped the practice in the 4th century. Crucifixion was mostly used on slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians, and foreigners; but rarely on Roman citizens.

Those on the cross might live a few hours or a few days depending on their strength and how the crucifixion was conducted. It was common for the people to be stripped completely naked before the process began, which added to the humiliation. Sometimes the person may have been whipped or beaten, sometimes they had to carry the horizontal piece they would be nailed upon, perhaps there was a small seat on the upright beam, or perhaps a small footrest; any/all of these helped to determine how long a person would survive. Note that the horizontal piece of the cross may have weighed as much as 100 pounds and a complete cross could have weighed as much as 300 pounds.

Imagine the blood that was flowing from the beatings and due to the nails driven into the hands/wrists and feet. The nails were not like the nails we use to build houses, they were more like spikes. They were typically made of iron and were 4’” – 6” long. Larger 5”-7” spikes were probably used to nail the feet to the cross. All of these nails were square and approximately 3/8” in diameter, which is over twice the diameter of the nails used in residential construction today. The nails said to have been driven into the hands, were typically driven between the two bones in the forearm just above the wrist. Nails placed in the hands would probably come out quickly due to pressure and the hand would have split through the fingers. The Greek word used for hand, actually indicates and area below the elbow to the hand.

In addition to the extreme loss of blood, the victim was enduring the extreme pain caused by trying to support their bodies as they tried to breathe. Think about the gasping breaths as the victims struggled. The Roman soldiers would often get tired of waiting on the individual to die and would frequently break the legs so the person could not use their legs to support their weight. Once the arms and legs gave way, the person would die of asphyxiation if they have not already died of other causes such as heart failure, blood loss, or dehydration. Sometimes, the soldiers want to extend the time on the cross just to cause more torture and humiliation and therefore did not take any actions to hasten death.

Once the crucified was dead, they were often left on the cross as an example and a reminder to all to obey the laws of Rome. Many corpses stayed on the cross until they simply decayed or were eaten by wild animals.

As we picture Jesus on the cross, take a minute to think about what he was experiencing mentally, emotionally, and physically. He was the Son of God, yet he had to endure this to fulfill the mission given to him by the Father and to take the next step in offering us the gift of eternal life. I am not sure I can even begin to comprehend what He and the victims had to endure. In the case of Jesus, who had committed no crime, He was crucified an innocent man and was only on the cross to follow God’s plan for him.

I know I have shared some gory details of crucifixion, but it is important to understand the suffering Christ endured just to show his love for each of us. It was really the love he had for each of us that held Him to the cross; no power on earth could have held him against His will.

When He Was on the Cross – Entry #1 of 7

The song this first series of Blogs will analyze is a song written by Mike Payne and Ronnie Hinson in 1983.   A link to the song as sung by the Florida Boys is at the bottom of this entry.

 

When He was on the Cross

I’m not on an ego trip
I’m nothing on my own
I made mistakes and often slip
Just common flesh and bones
But I’ll prove someday just why I say
I’m of a special kind
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
A look of love was on his face
Thorns were on his head
The blood was on his scarlet robe
And stained a crimson red
Though his eyes were on the crowd that day
He looked ahead in time
For when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
He knew me, yet he loved me
He whose glory makes the heavens shine
So unworthy of such mercy
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.
Yet when he was on the cross
I was on his mind.

We often read and hear about Christ on the cross, how he suffered, how he reached out to the criminals beside him, and how he died on that cross. All of this is true and I know there is more to the story, but I wanted to review some of other surrounding aspects of this event as written in this song.

I’m not on an ego trip, I’m nothing on my own

Wow, think about the culture of today; it often seems as if we live in an “all about me” and “right now” world. So many people live in the moment, want to know “what’s in it for me”, and forget the big picture and how others are part of everything they do. Many articles are published today about people who don’t want to earn their way in a career, they don’t want to do their time, they want to start at the top. Many people are focused on starting with the big house and the new car since that is what many of their friends have or strive to have as quickly as possible. The faith of so many people is in themselves and that they alone are in control of their destiny.

There seems to be way too much focus on “what I did and what I have” as opposed to who helped get them there and how they would have failed without those who supported them. The songwriter states that he/she is not striving for the spotlight, to promote themselves as the best, or to promote an “all about me world”. He/she knows they are nothing without help from others. These people surely want to be successful in all parts of their life, but they are not seeking press and platitudes since they know the journey from who they are to who they will become is not solely in their hands. We all need help to get to the end of our life’s journey. There is nothing wrong with success, the issue is any self pride or ego associated with that success, and the lack of acknowledging that you could not have done it alone.

I made mistakes, often slip, just common flesh and bones.

These are the humble people who admit their mistakes and weaknesses; they know they are just human beings and were never meant to be perfect. It is more important to acknowledge who we really are than it is to pretend we are someone we are not. We need to realize we don’t know all of the answers; we probably don’t even know all of the questions. We must pick ourselves up after every failure and start marching forward again along with those who are there to be part of our journey. Every failure and every stumble brings new knowledge and perhaps more support as our journey continues.

When He Was on the Cross Sung by the Florida Boys