Hello everyone
I hope you are all doing very well! I am grateful to God to share with you new music entitled “My Saviour Has Been Pierced”. This is one of the most important contemplations I’ve been getting to work on. Alike the music “Are You Saved”, this one is directly composed with the desire to solicit a decision from your heart, after introducing Christ to you.
Jesus, a young Hebrew man, deeply influential among the social classes of His country (Israel), was arrested, tortured and then put to death by the religio-political elite of His day. The motive for His execution was simple: He claimed to be God made man, The Savior of mankind, The Messiah, The Ruler of the whole world — so promised within the ancient Hebrew Scriptures (known today as the Old Testament). See here and here
A peculiar young man considering the unprecedented miracles that accompanied Him, miracles even historically recognized even among his fiercest enemies. (See in the talmuds). To name a few: healings of the sick, (heavy cases as light), resurrection of the dead, deliverance of multitudes possesed by evil-spirits. Relief of crowds by multiplication of food.
Morally irreproachable, gentleness so vast that the most remote castes of society dared to approach Him, rekindling the divine feeling their hearts had long since buried. Some came to weep at His feet, others simply to share a meal with Him.
Terrifying young man even for the Roman centurions, yet trained in the harshness and rigid violence of Roman laws. One dared not receive him into his own home because of his own feeling of unworthiness. Others, having taken part in the killing, recognized Him as the Son of God only hours later, in a terrible fright. See here and here
Terrifying because of His Holiness, even for His closest disciples, one of them, Peter pray to Him to depart from him! See here and here :
A portrait so brilliant, encapsulating all the possible and unimaginable perfections of the Divine, that it’s so difficult for a mere human being to paint. One glance at Him, then another, and the whole being is swallowed up in His Glory.
Jesus expires, and the bodies must be removed from the crosses, as this is an important day for the Jewish people (celebration of Moses’ deliverance from Egyptian bondage on Passover).
A man of faith, Joseph of Arimathea, a high ranking member of his country’s religious strata, secretly believes in Jesus, and asks Pilate, the Roman governor, to untie His Body and place it in his own grave. The purpose of the music is this: Replace that man who unties Jesus and brings His mortified body down by yourself.
Remove the nails from His Hands and feet, and carry Him to the ground. The goal is to really place the body of Jesus in your hands and to let your heart reacts while you handle Him. It’s just Him and you. No one else on earth but Him and you. You can if you want, close your eyes and picture yourself with Him while listening the music. Remember. Jesus was a young man. He died for you and we will see why in the next section of the article below.
If your heart is moved by Christ and start to love Him, I hope the next part of the message will have an echo in your heart.
Now comes the question :
Why did Jesus Himself affirm that His arrest and condemnation was not the result of a simple human impulse, but of a Divine prescience, written well in advance? In fact, God in His attributes knew that the people would reject Him, and He uses this precise moment in History to accomplish His Sacrifice for us all. Why did Jesus have to die for us?
Jesus tells us that God in His Essence is constituted of two primordial properties. One is His Holiness, the other His Mercy. God is so Pure and Holy that He cannot tolerate evil and leave it unpunished.
In His Justice, He must act and punish it, otherwise He would not be Just. If a judge let a rapist or murderer go free, wouldn’t we be crying out for injustice? That the judge is not exercising his function properly? Even if the judge were to develop some empathy for the murderer or rapist, would he let himself be won over by his empathy to let the guilty man go free without paying for his wrongdoing?
He would not be a good Judge. The same is true of God. If He does not punish evil, then He is not Just. Without understanding this attribute of His Person, His Justice, it is impossible for us to understand the second. His Mercy.
His justice, it must be said, is terrifying. A person analyzing himself by reading this, might think : “I’m not a bad person, I haven’t killed, stolen or raped, I’m trying to be good to my neighbor after all.” It goes far beyond that. Indeed, a simple lie is enough to lose us altogether. A simple wrong thought of the heart is enough to doom us in the face of a Holy God.
Jesus Himself explained this to His Disciples. Evil begins in the heart, in the mind, and that is enough to condemn us, to private us to enter into the Life to come. I’m not saying this to terrify, but to create in us, a vast contrast between God’s Holy dimension and our own — to cancel out within ourselves — any sense of self-righteousness we may be so quick to develop naturally.
"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him.”
Jesus - Book of Matthew, chapter 15 verse 16
Many people, claiming to be of God, think themselves righteous, and better than others in judging them. God sets the bar so high that we can all realize our sinful state, knowing we are all equal in our faults before a Holy God.
If we feel condemned by our past or our present, by the weight of our mistakes, that’s a good thing! If we feel ashamed of our past as we introspect before a Holy God, that’s a very good thing! Because — without that feeling — it would be impossible for us to access the next part of the message and thus receive its full effectiveness. Before we know we’re saved — we must already know we’re lost! If not, what’s there to be saved from?
It’s now that God’s second attribute takes full effect. His mercy.
Instead of one day having to pay the price for our faults in front of a Holy God — God Himself does the unthinkable, and condemns Himself for us. When Jesus died on the cross, it was at this precise moment in history that He fully paid the price for our sins and errors.
Think of your past and present mistakes. They are transferred into His Body to be locked up and destroyed. Jesus sets out a legal path of forgiveness for the human race. When Jesus expires, our faults also expire, and are no more. Let’s think again about everything we’ve done wrong, from the moment we arrived on earth until today. Jesus completely clears our history of sins and wrongdoings.
Jesus says that if we believe in His substitutionary Sacrifice for us, from the heart, we won’t have to stand trial before a Holy God. He payed the price of our faults to make us perfectly free. See here.
After reading this, if you believe, personally that Jesus died for your trespasses on the cross, and if you believe that God raised Him from the dead, attesting to His declaration to be God, you are saved. You will not pass into judgment. If you die, you will enter the promised, Eternal Life.
If you want to be saved, but have never prayed, I encourage you to repeat this simple prayer:
Jesus, I don't know you personally. I've heard about you, but I don't know you. Please save me.
I ask your forgiveness for all my faults and errors done consciously or unconsciously in my past and present. I believe that you died on the cross for me, and that you rose from the dead, proving that you are God. I ask this, in the Name of Jesus Christ Himself, amen.
Now that you’re saved, stay saved. In other words, live for Christ, get to know Him sincerely every day. Turn your back on your old life and your own sins. You’re a new person. Change your habits. Put an alaram on your phone to pray every day and start little by little (a few minutes a day). When you pray to Jesus, be transparent. Don’t lie to Him, don’t hide anything from Him, but tell Him everything. Even the ugliest. Try to read the Bible every day. Start with one of the four biographies of Jesus, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John! Ask Jesus for the Holy Spirit. It’s Jesus, in Spirit form, who will live in you to help you in your daily life with Him!
Efisio Cross 