The Hardest Part

Jesus suffered great things during his last hours on this earth.

His character was attacked; He was falsely accused; He was labeled a liar and a blasphemer. He was blindfolded, spit upon and slapped. He was mocked and made fun of. He was then beaten mercilessly. His clothes were stripped off. He was scourged across His back with a leather whip that had bone and metal balls tied onto it. His skin was torn; his muscles were ripped apart. He was then mocked again--forced to wear a robe across His bleeding, raw back. A crown of thorns was placed upon His head and then pushed down into place until the thorns drove themselves into His scalp. He was humiliated.

He was then forced to carry the heavy wooden cross that was to be His final torture. He was treated as a criminal. Then He was placed on that cross. Spikes atleast 6" long were nailed through each of His wrists. His feet were overlapped and then another spike was driven through them. He then experienced the jolts as the cross was being lifted and driven into the ground.

The mockery continued and so did the humiliation. As the soldiers gambled for His seamless robe and others yelled insults up to Him.

He said nothing. He endured it all.

As bad as all that is, the most difficult part for Him to endure had to be the time when the skies turned black and God turned his back on His One and Only Son. For the first time since the beginning of time, Jesus experienced separation from God. He was alone in the world bearing the sin of all mankind. And God, who knows no sin, could not face His Son. For three hours the powers of darkness separated Jesus from His Father.

Hell is a place of complete separation from God. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, experienced Hell at that moment. Jesus, who had never sinned, took on the sin of us all and went through Hell for us.

That had to be the hardest part!