kids devotionals: 3 nails + 1 cross = salvation 4

8/6/2019 Kids Devotionals: 3 Nails + 1 Cross = Salvation 4

1/9

3 Nails + 1 Cross =

Salvation 4 All

Why did Jesus have to die on thecross?

by Robbie HeverlingUsed by Permission


2/9

John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the worldthat he gave his one and only Son, that

whoever believes in him shall not perish but

have eternal life. For God did not send his

Son into the world to condemn the world,but to save the world through him. Whoever

believes in him is not condemned, but

whoever does not believe stands

condemned already because he has not

believed in the name of God's one and onlySon."

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3/9

One of the things I remember most about going to my grandma's

house as a kid was a picture she had on the wall. It was an oldpicture of Jesus on the cross. There was no one else in the picture

just Jesus hanging there on the cross. The sky was black like

smoke and his body a pale white as he hung there in his loin cloth.

You could see no blood because let's face it nobody is going to

hang a picture of a bloody Jesus in their house. He looked all

alone as he hung on that cross. He looked as though everyonehad deserted him. His body just hung there lifeless. The price had

been paid and not one person knew enough or understood

enough to know what had just happened. They still didn't get it,

they wouldn't get it...that is not until Sunday.

I myself didn't get it for years, I mean I knew that it was Jesus onthe cross, I knew that he died on the cross, I knew that's what we

celebrated every Easter but for some reason I just didn't get it. I

didn't understand any of it. Why did he die?



4/9

It's funny because through the years I find that I'm not the only one

who doesn't get it, there or others. I have talked to many of people,people at work, people on the street, people who go to church and

people who do not, and I ask them "Why do you think Jesus died

on the cross?" and like me when I was younger a lot of them don't

know.One women told me she went to church faithfully with her

parents when she lived at home and when I asked her that

question she looked at me and said "honestly I don't know, whydid he die?"

I have to admit I was thrown by her answer. I mean sure I didn't

know but then again I never went to church as a kid. How could

this happen? How can a person spend most of their life going to

Church and miss the whole reason why we even go to Church? I

mean Jesus dieing on the cross and Jesus rising from the dead is

the whole reason we go to church. There wouldn't even be a

church anywhere, if these two events recorded in history would

have never happened.



5/9

It was several years ago when I learned why he died on that cross. You

see he came to die for us. We were lost in our transgressions and sin andthe bible says that the penalty for sin is death. We were supposed to pay

for our own sins and the payment was supposed to be our very lives. We

were to be separated from God for all eternity in Hell because we chose

sin over the creator. But it was at this moment while we were still in sin that

God really showed his love for us. He did the unthinkable, He sent his son

Jesus to die in our place. He allowed Him who knew no sin to become sin

for us so that we could be restored to God. Jesus became sin for us, hecarried all the sins of the world to that cross, he allowed himself to be

beaten, slapped, punched, and whipped so badly that his flesh hung off

him like tassels. He was beaten so badly that if you looked at him you

wouldn't recognize him.

The picture of Jesus hanging on the cross at grandmas house was a nice

picture of the death of Jesus yet it fails to even come close to showing thetrue price that was paid. Imagine yourself suffering for something you didn't

do, imagine being punished brutally, then imagine yourself being led to

your own execution. Jesus didn't imagine it, He lived it for you. Then as if

the beatings and the floggings weren't enough they made him carry his

cross through the streets in front of everyone to the place where he would

be executed


6/9

The fact that he was even able to carry the cross after

everything he already went through blows my mind, but he did. I

wonder what kind of thoughts went through his mind as he saw

the place of the Skull (or the place where he would be executed)

approaching in the distance. Did he still dread it or because of

the pain and suffering that he was going through did he look

forward to it? Did he see the end in sight or did he fear the nails.

Just a little more suffering, a little more pain and it would beover, surly he wanted it to be over. When he got to the skull they

threw the cross on the ground and laid Jesus bloodied body on

it. I'm sure that because of the beating he took and the shock he

was in there was no fighting what was next. They placed the nail

at his wrist and with a loud ring you could hear the hammer

strike a piercing blow. His body cringing from the pain. Againthey did the other wrist and then the feet. How could they not

know what they were doing?



7/9

They had the son of God right in front of them and they missed

him. He walked with them, talked with them, healed them,andforgave them. He did everything he could to prove to them who he

was while he lived and what did they do in return, they spit on him

as he hung on the cross, they insulted him and gambled for his

clothes. As Jesus hung on the cross the pain had to be

unbearable. The nails pushing against the nerves in the wrists had

to feel like hot metal. Slowly he would pull himself up just longenough to get some air causing searing pain in the wrists because

of the nails. Then he would allow his body to fall back down to rest

his shoulders from holding all the weight of his body all the

pressure now being placed on the feet. For hours he repeated

these motions slowly up for air, slowly down for rest until he

became so tired he could no longer pull himself up again. He hung

there suffering and suffocating for you and me, paying the ultimate

price for our salvation. One life for the lives of many but none of

this means anything if your not willing to come to the cross and

see the price that has been paid. He paid it all, he did all the work,

all you have to do is believe.


8/9

Romans 4:7-8 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are

forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whosesin the Lord will never count against him."

Romans 10:8-13 'But what does it say? The word is near

you; it is in your mouth and in your heart , that is, the word

of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your

mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that Godraised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with

your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with

your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture

says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

For there is no difference between Jew and Gentilethe

same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call onhim, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will

be saved."'



9/9

If you would like to receive the free gift of salvation

that God has to offer pray this prayer

Dear Lord,

I know that I'm a sinner, and my sin separates me

from you. Because you love me, you sent yourSon Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin by dieing

on the cross. Please forgive me of my sin. I except

your free gift of salvation, please come into my life

and help me to live for you. Amen


kids devotionals: 3 nails + 1 cross = salvation 4

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