Crucify Him!

When I look into the eyes of that kitten I still see unutterable pain. I see a little being who had always loved me seeking my help. I had run over him with my car and burst his little internal organs. I killed him. He lived long enough for me to find him and hold him in my hands. Five seconds later, after a few pants from his little body, blood ran out of his mouth and he expired. His hurting eyes remained open, devoid of the life and joy he had once had. Still it haunts me when I remember that day.

I still feel for that little kitten who died at my hands so long ago. Adam must have felt the same when he saw the first flower fade and fall because of his sin. He must have been rushed back to the day before when he saw the two sheep die, one at his hand and the other at his wife’s.

He saw in the eyes of the docile animals not a trace of anger or revenge. He saw total acceptance of their fate; total trusting in the action of their master. Their will weighed nothing; Adam’s will must be served. They were killed in cold-blooded murder.

Christ brought Adam to that harsh, but necessary moment of sacrifice. Adam must kill the sheep. His hand might be quivering with fear and sorrow; but he must kill the animal. He may resist, he may feel unable, but he was forced to do the unthinkable.

“Slay the animal! Kill it! It’s either it or you! Justice demands it! Do it!” Adam understood the message: “This is what you’ve done because of your sin. Either you take responsibility or I must destroy you.” That voice of authority Adam could not disobey; the issues spoken by His Master’s voice, Adam must heed.

He used the means given him to end the life of that innocent thing, and then had to watch it die, those eyes looking for Adam to save it from the torture it was enduring. All he could do was fall fainting on the suffering animal, weeping for what he had done. Then he had to stand by and see Eve destroy the next innocent life.

In both sinners sin died in the death of those sheep. Both proud, ugly, blame-casting hearts were humbled, their pride blasted to shivers by the full reality of the consequences of disobedience to God. And once the mental torture and angst did its work on their pride, they were acceptable again to Christ. He brought them to full and complete repentance, and then forgave them. The past could not be changed, God and His government were still the new object of Satan’s derision and insults and laughter, but they had found a ransom. Christ had devised a means to bring back His banished that they be not eternally expelled from Him.

The innocent Son of God offers Himself for us. His eternal life for our eternal loss; His joy and peace for our damnation and the chastisement of our peace. But we must crucify Him. We must. We must crucify Him. Then crucify Him! Crucify Him! Our guilty and self-serving hands must take the life of the innocent Son of God. It’s either Him or us. Which is it going to be? If we don’t let Him give up His life for us, then we have no part in Him. Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Then, let the bloody knife fall from our quivering hand and let us fall to our knees sorrowful and responsible and humbled.

Read the gospel accounts. Study the ancient animal sacrificial system. Compare and know that the crucifixion of Christ wasn’t just a historical event; it was for you to relive and to find yourself there slaying the holy One who laid His life down, so that He could pick ours back up. It’s only in His pain and suffering that our proud hearts can be destroyed. It’s only in His destruction that we can ever be rebuilt. Yes, “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” (Heb. 9:28). But that one offering echoes and re-echoes down to the end of time, and will be relived throughout eternity.

And it will forever give the same effect it gives today in the decimation of pride, as we cast ourselves and our brilliant crowns at His feet for ever, and ever.