The Bible Says...

    THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD

      by Charlie Grier

      At this season of the year, our thoughts naturally turn to The Man Of Galilee. Suppose you and I had been there to witness for ourselves the entire ordeal? Would we have boldly stood by His side declaring our love for the One despised and rejected? Or would we with Peter deny the fact that we ever knew Him?  Using her imagination and spiritual insight, Anne Graham Lotz tells the whole tragic episode as one eyewitness, the Apostle John, might have expressed it. I was so impressed with this I feel inclined to share it with our readers:

    THE APOSTLE JOHN SPEAKS

          I was a disciple of John the Baptist for some time. One day I was standing beside the River Jordan with John when he pointed out a rather ordinary-looking man, exclaiming, "Look! There goes Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Lamb of God Who will take away the sin of the world. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the unique Son of God. There is God, walking the earth in a human body!"

          So I left John the Baptist and followed Jesus. During that time I saw and heard Him in every conceivable circumstance. I saw Him create sight in a man born blind. I saw Him cleanse lepers, walk on water, feed over five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. I saw Him raise Lazarus from the dead, and I heard the Sermon on the Mount. I saw all this with my own eyes.
          
           But I will never forget that Thursday night when Jesus, the other disciples, and I had eaten a meal together in an upper room in Jerusalem. Afterward He took us to a secluded spot on the Mount of Olives for prayer. But instead of praying, I went to sleep. He awakened me and asked if I would pray with Him. But -- oh, how ashamed I am to admit it now -- I went back to sleep. Again He awakened me, asking for prayer, and again I went back to sleep. The third time He came, needing me to watch and pray with Him. But since I was still sleeping, He left me undisturbed. When I finally woke up, I saw Roman soldiers placing Him under arrest, taking Him off for trial before the religious leaders.

          I followed at a distance, and because I am a relative of the high priest, I was able to slip into the courtyard and watch the proceedings from there. With my own ears I heard Him accused of various false charges. In the end, I heard Him convicted of blasphemy -- of claiming to be the unique Son of God.

          Then I watched as they took Him to the Roman courts for trial. I saw Him slapped, spat upon, and scourged until the flesh was ripped from His bones and His body glistened with blood. In fact, His appearance was so marred, I could hardly recognize Him as a man, much less my Master and Friend.

           I heard the crowd that had gathered at the judgment hall begin to riot as they shouted in unison, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Then I heard with my own ears as seven different times the Roman courts said: "This Man is innocent. This Man is innocent. This Man is innocent." But in the end, I watched as the Roman Governor, Pilate, washed his hands of responsibility and concluded: "This Man is innocent, but . . . you can crucify Him!"

          I followed at a distance as He was led out of Jerusalem to the place of execution known as Golgotha. There, with my own eyes, I saw Jesus of Nazareth crucified on a Roman cross.

          I stood at the foot of the cross and watched for six long, agonizing hours as He hung on it. At one point He even noticed me and asked if I would take care of His mother, who was also standing nearby. At the end of those six horrifying hours, I heard, with my own ears, as He shouted with a loud voice, "It is finished!" And I saw, with my own eyes, as He bowed His head and deliberately refused to take the next breath.

          I saw Jesus of Nazareth die on a Roman cross. There was no mistake. He was dead!

      -unquote
The Vision of His Glory by Anne Graham Lotz (Zondervan Bible Publishers) c. 1984 p.4-5


THEY CRUCIFIED MY LORD
   Croft M. Pentz

They nailed my Savior to the cross,
The cross on Calvary;
It was there in agony He died
For sinful souls like me.
They placed upon His brow a crown,
A cruel crown of thorn:
Placed it upon that gentle brow,
In bitter hate and scorn.
Despised, rejected, loving still,
My dear Lord suffered there;
"Forgive, they know not what they do,"
His tender dying prayer.
How can I show my love to Him
Who suffered thus for me?
All that I have -- a humble gift
His evermore shall be.