Good Friday 2013

I want to re-post this article from late last year - so timely for Good Friday:

When we say that something is "excruciating," we are actually referring to a word that can be traced back to Latin:

"ex" was used to intensify a verb, and "cruciare" meaning to torture or crucify. "Ex" can also mean "out of." 

In other words the english word "excruciating" hides this beautiful mention of the cross (Latin: "crucis" or "crux") There was no word to describe the horrors of the cross, so the word "excruciating" came to mean the harshest and most horrific torture known to man.

The Gospels don't go into details of the horror of the cross - just the power of the cross. We are called to focus on the victory of calvary. It never ceases to amaze me that the Lord became my sin and took the excruciating punishment upon HImself - all so that I can live life without the penalty I deserve.

2Cor. 5:21 For He made HIm who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

...And I conclude with one of my all-time favorite hymns by Isaac Watts: "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross." Are there any words outside the Bible itself that are more poignant than these?

When I survey the wondrous cross

On which the Prince of glory died,


My richest gain I count but loss,


And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,


Save in the death of Christ my God!


All the vain things that charm me most,


I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands,

His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!


Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,


Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,


That were a present far too small;


Love so amazing, so divine,


Demands my soul, my life, my all.

- Isaac Watts -