JESUS - LORD AND SAVIOR - Jesus Carried our Sin

Pray – (1/2 minute)

Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in form the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. ... I was the third hour when they crucified Him.” (Mark 15:21-25)
      Passage: Isaiah 53:1-12

       After Pilate sentenced Jesus to be crucified, Jesus was beaten with a whip known as a cat-of-nine tails. It was a whip with leather straps that had pieces of jagged bone or metal tied into the straps. The flogging was enough to kill some people with loss of blood and then the soldiers added to the torture by twisting thorns into a crown and beating it down on Jesus’ head. According to some medical research, Jesus may have lost 30-40% of His blood during that torture. Then, He was forced to carry the cross up a hill to the place of execution. It was probably the crossbeam, but that weigh around 100 pounds and Jesus fell beneath the load.
       A man named Simon was forced to carry the cross the rest of the way. The gospels gave his name, because he became a believer and a leader in the early church, especially at Antioch. (Acts 13:1). His son Rufus and his wife are mentioned by Paul in Romans 16:13 and Paul says that she was like a mother to him. Simon’s life was changed when He realized that he carried the cross of Jesus, but Jesus carried the sin of man and offers salvation to all who believed. Jesus changes lives!          

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