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Pastor Bill Lobbs Many of the visitors to the Holy Land find the historic site of Calvary to be a disappointment when they see it for the very first time. It's not at all like they had pictured it to be. They come expecting to see a scene like that described in the gospels and instead they are greeted with a scene of the constant coming and going of tour buses loading and unloading a steady stream of tourists; exhaust fumes hanging heavy in the air; the sound of auto horns being honked by frustrated drivers trying to maneuver through the crowd; voices of venders and tour guides vying for attention. Of course, when Jesus was crucified here, the scene was quite different than it is now. But, even then, the road passing along the base of Skull Hill was a much traveled thoroughfare. Golgotha (Skull Hill) is located just north of Herod's gate. It's a gate that was a much used entrance into and out of Jerusalem in Jesus' day. Crowds of people continually were passing in and out of the gate daily. The bleating of sheep and the braying of donkeys, the bumping of wagons and carts, the sounds of shouting of cursing, of laughter, of greetings filled the air. All these sounds were heard every day on this road that passed beside Golgotha. And this was where Jesus died. Right in the middle of all this humanity, Jesus shed his life's blood. Luke called that blood, "the blood of God." Acts 20: 28, "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with His Own blood." Peter called it, "the precious blood." I Peter 1: 18a - 19, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold......But with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot." John called it, "the cleansing blood." I John 1: 17, "But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin." It was this blood that splattered into the dust by the side of that busy thoroughfare the day Christ died. Jesus the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world, died in excruciating agony on a brutal rugged cross, by the side of a road packed with bustling humanity. He was dying for them, but they didn't care. The world didn't care much about His death then, nor does the world care much now. Isaiah, the prophet, prophesied about the crucifixion scene 700 years before it actually happened. This is how he described it. Isaiah 53: 3 - 8, (TLB) "We despised and rejected Him, a man of sorrows, acquainted with bitterest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way when he went by. He was despised and we didn't care. Yet it was our grief he bore, our sorrows that weighed Him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God for his own sins! But he was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was chastised that we might have peace, he was lashed and we were healed. We are the ones who strayed away like sheep! We who left God's path to follow our own. Yet God laid on him the guilt and sins of everyone of us. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he never said a word. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before the ones condemning Him. From prison and trial they led him away to his death. But who among the people of that day realized it was their sins he was dying for; that he was suffering their punishment."
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