THE AGONY OF THE CROSS

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to death. At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death of all. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful and horrifying for Jesus, unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet. Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrists, not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could even breathe.
Both of His feet were nailed together. Meaning He was forced to support his entire body weight on that single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the intense excruciating pain, forcing him to alternate between arching His back and then using his legs just to be able to breathe deeply painful breaths.
Imagine the struggle, the immense pain, the total suffering, and the courage and love. Jesus endured this hellish nightmare for over 6 hours. Yes, 6 long hours. Can you even imagine that kind of suffering?
A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. Only water was pouring from His wounds. From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side. But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body. A hammer driving large spikes through the wrists, the feet overlapped and an even larger spike hammered through the arches. A Roman guard piercing right through His side with a spear. But even before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten and tortured. The whipping was so severe that it tore chunks of flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that his face was a bloody pulp and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns pushed deeply into His scalp. Most men would not have even survived this extreme torture. But He wasn't most men.
He had no more blood to even bleed, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 5.5 liters (thats about 1.5 gallons) of blood. Jesus poured out all 5.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His body; a crown of thorns digging deep in His head, and the spear driven into his side and then his chest. All this without even mentioning the utter humiliation and torture He suffered after carrying His own cross, which weighed almost 70 pounds, for almost a mile and a half, while the crowd slapped and spat in his face and threw stones at him. And after all this he still yelled out.. "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Jesus had to endure all of this to open the gates of Heaven, so that you could be forgiven and set free. So that our sins are washed away. All of them, with no exception! Don't ignore this free gift. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU because you are someone worth dying for.
HE DIED FOR YOU! So you could be free from sin and the hell you put yourself through. He has a purpose and a plan for your life. All you need to do is simply believe upon Him and ask him to come into your life and save you. To set you free from sin and give you a brand new life.
He will give you a that peace and joy that the world cannot give. Do it now and be set free in Jesus name.