Pains

PAINS

Pains of the Body

At this point every breath can be counted. His lungs was forcibly raised with the last dying strength fading from His body. Breathing has placed a heavy weight on the chest. The muscles of the shoulders ache from the heavy lifting of His wooden altar. Where the Lamb will be sacrificed. What a Lamb! One that carried His own altar of sacrifice. There is no food, no water, even His clothes have been divided and shared amongst the soldiers. This is poverty- no food, no water, no clothes, no shelter. He is short of blood and breath. Eyes are dim, they can barely see. They are filled with blood flowing from the head pierced with thorns. The wood of the Cross is pressing hard on the wounds from the beating and flogging. Pains have been mixed like colours of the rainbow shining at different wavelengths and frequencies coming from every angle all happening at the same time. Pains and blood from the head pierced with thorns, from the hands and legs pierced with nails. One head, two hands and fused legs. Four points, like the four rivers in Eden. Four points like the four corners of the altar. The Cross was the glorious altar painted red by the precious Lamb of God. Strength fades away gradually as lifeblood drains, flowing through wooden channels to the rocky grounds. Just one conscious word, just one conscious thought and the pains will go away, but Messiah’s heart said no! He would rather stay bearing the pains. The rains poured on Him, the cold clothes His naked body. He has become an outcast, rejected by men.
 
Pains of the Soul

Memories of sinners filled His mind. He remembered all their sins. Those in the past, those in the present, and those who were yet to be born. He took the guilt of their sins and was tormented as if He was the one that committed them. He felt every sickness, plague, disease and pandemic. He felt every sorrow, every loss, every trouble, every regret, every mistake of every human in every timelines and in countless possibilities.  One man was enough for the human population of all time. One man was enough to bear all sins and He was not overwhelmed. This could only be the capacity of Him who created all things, because He could contain all things. I saw Him feeling my sinful desires and overcoming them. I saw His mind going through my wrong thinking and correcting them. He understood me and restored me to righteousness on a wooden place even before I was born. No wonder He tells me now to keep looking at the altar made of wood flowing with the blood of the Son of God. I will put on the image of the Cross as a Concave lens and my eyes will be corrected from shortsightedness. With my vision focusing on the angle of His grace and leading to God’s right-hand where He reigns.  His mind was strong enough to correct all the mental deficiencies of the all-time human population. So, I testify that this can only be the mind of Him who thought all things into existence.  His soul was heavy unto death. He had one resort, which was to look unto His Father who sent Him.

Pains of the Spirit

He looked up towards the heavens, yearning for the Spirit that descended on Him at Jordan's waters. The Spirit of His Father that openly declared He was well pleased in Him (His only begotten). Alas! The Spirit has forsaken Him, leaving Him alone on the Cross. The memory of Jordan came to His mind. Oh how the Spirit descended like a dove, but now how He departed like Moses’ hands leaving the bronze serpent on the stake.

 No one can measure the pains you went through Lord. Words are not enough to describe them, but I will write what I see though I know I am limited. I am glad I understood a minute fraction of your pain when I saw my present pains in you. I understood that you had gone through them all and I need not go through them again. If I feel them now, it is a rare opportunity to suffer with you on the cross, to go back to Golgotha. To go back to the past and worship you for your sacrifice. You first felt my pain, lust, pride and guilt before me. You understand them better than I do. They are not my pains, my sickness, my sorrows, my guilt or wrong desires. They are yours. I want to fellowship with your sufferings. I want to experience my life in your life on the Cross. For that is where we were Crossed. That is where we became one. That is what changed me forever. The Power of your Cross Pain.

Pains of the Father

You have watched Him grow, full of wisdom, loved without limit by you. You announced Him to the world as your Son. Your Spirit rested on Him. You love Him, but you also love the world. You must do what you instructed Abraham. You must lead Him to the wilderness. You must place Him on the altar. You must tie His hands and legs with the sharp nails of men. No matter how painful it might be oh Abraham, you must lift your knife, you must make the final stroke and take away the life of your Son for the sake of the world. It is in your Son shall all the nations be blessed. This sacrifice is necessary. I see God crying. I feel as if the rain that fell on that dark day was an expression of His tears. It was very painful. He did not desire to forsake His only begotten. It was His will to do so, for the sake of the world. The pains of the Father is incomparable. Though He knows the Joy that will come after. The birth of a new hope. The seed of Righteousness that will fill the Earth.
They both knew. Both Father and Son. So they chose to focus on the Joy and not the pain. We must choose to focus on their pain for we are their joy. They focused on us. We must focus on them. There is an appointed time when Father, Son, and Wife will rejoice together in a place beyond time. We shall see their pain and rejoice with them.