David Bryant Mini-Post / 3-minute read
Behold the "Gory Glory" of God's Son,
Slain for the Sins of the World!
Slain for the Sins of the World!
Is “gory” too repulsive a term for us to use in describing the way Christ died for us? Is it the kind of image we should toss around at Eastertime?
Consider: When Paul writes in Galatians 4 that God sent his Son “in the fullness of time,” we must remember the fact that at that time in history, one primary method of public execution was crucifixion.
Historically speaking, no design of capital punishment pictured our eternal fate, apart from God’s grace, as vividly as did the awful afflictions Jesus endured on the wooden torture rack called a cross.
Jesus’ type of death was “excruciating.” Did you know at its root, the word literally means “agony due to crucifying”? This form of capital punishment was meant for criminals and rebels against Rome. Every moment of a victim’s suffering on the bloody stake was gruesome, painful, shameful—unfathomable. In the end, most victims expired through gradual, ponderous suffocation when their crucified limbs could no longer hold them up so their lungs could fill with air.
Jesus’ type of death was about “passion.” Like the title of the Mel Gibson 2004 blockbuster movie, Jesus’ sacrificial death is appropriately called “the passion of the Christ.” “Passion” is defined as “extensive suffering.”
However, Jesus’ passion was two-fold: Not only (1) the passion of the dehumanizing and unparalleled experience of Golgotha, borne in our place, but also (2) his was a passion of undying love for us—a longing for us that drove him there in the first place—willingly—to become our substitute.
In other words, his passion for us took him to the passion of the cross. From his incarnation onward, he assumed the full consequences of our sin—descending into the darkness of our spiritual death as well as our pending mortality and eternal judgment.
Jesus embedded himself in the convulsive horror of our guilty condition before the living God. He did so to set us free from all the righteous counts against us and bring us into the arms of the living, holy, loving God of all creation.
Yes, Jesus’ death was profoundly GORY, but it also was full of majestic GLORY. The GLORY of the spectacular supremacy of God’s Son was magnified by the level of victory that came from the stunning, staggering, saving GORY execution God’s Son suffered.
His afflictions were holy—blessed, compassionate, purposeful, and utterly sufficient to save us. They were inexhaustibly redemptive afflictions so that now “he is the forgiveness for our sins, and not only ours but all the world’s” (1 John 2).
Sometimes, we should pause in our busy days—especially this Easter season—to ponder the cross. Think of the sinless one who was on it to become sin for us—and then maybe weep for a moment. Weep as we grieve not only the pain he bore but also the fact that he endured it not for himself but for us. What greater love is this?!
O sacred Head, now wounded,
with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns thine only crown.
Sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory , I joy to call Thee mine.
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners’ gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns thine only crown.
Sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory , I joy to call Thee mine.
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinners’ gain.
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux,
12th-century French Catholic reformer priest;
emphasis added
12th-century French Catholic reformer priest;
emphasis added
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About the Author
Over the past 50 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ Awakening movements. Download his widely read ebooks at ChristNow.com. Enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes. Watch his vlogs at David Bryant REPORTS. Meet with David through Zoom or in-person events through David Bryant LIVE!
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