crucifixion

The Devil Thought He’d Found the Perfect Weapon

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment
Jesus seated on a cross holding keys, symbolizing victory over death and Satan, with golden light breaking through clouds

What was meant for destruction became the symbol of ultimate victory.

Satan’s plan looked genius. Don’t just kill the Son of God. Kill Him in the most brutal, agonizing, publicly humiliating way possible, branded as a criminal. Make a public spectacle of Him so that all who follow Him will be shamed and run for cover.

As far as the devil was concerned, there could be no better weapon than a Roman cross.

Except…

The devil knows the Word of God and knows it well. He’s been twisting it since the beginning as he’s tried to lead astray everyone he possibly can—including Jesus. (That attempt failed gloriously.)

But knowing the Word isn’t the same as understanding it. He missed a world of clues. Let’s take a look.

The Bronze Serpent — Lifted Up

The Lord told him, “Make a replica of a poisonous snake
and attach it to a pole.
All who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!
Numbers 21:8 (NLT)

Jesus directly connects this to Himself:

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake
on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man
must be lifted up, so that everyone who
believes in him will have eternal life.
John 3:14–15 (NLT)

This imagery? Being lifted up on a pole—that’s crucifixion. And Jesus told everyone it was going to happen.

Cursed Is Everyone Hung on a Tree

Anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse.
Deuteronomy 21:22–23

Paul makes the connection explicit:

But Christ has rescued us from the curse
pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross,
he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.
For it is written in the Scriptures,
“Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
Galatians 3:13 (NLT)

Jesus going to the Cross for us was all about taking the curse. He had to be hung on a tree in order to take our place.

Pierced Hands and Feet

…They have pierced my hands and feet.
Psalm 22:16 (NLT)

David wrote this psalm long before crucifixion like this was practiced. Beheading was more common in his day, and that doesn’t involve pierced hands and feet.

Public Exposure and Mocking

Everyone who sees me mocks me.
They sneer and shake their heads, saying,
“Is this the one who relies on the LORD?
Then let the LORD save him!
If the LORD loves him so much,
let the LORD rescue him!”
Psalm 22:7–8 (NLT)

Public ridicule was part of the plan, and the cross fit it perfectly.

Bones Not Broken

For the Lord protects the bones of the righteous;
not one of them is broken!
Psalm 34:20 (NLT)

This was fulfilled in:

When they came to Jesus,
they saw that he was already dead,
so they didn’t break his legs.
John 19:33 (NLT)

In Roman crucifixions, the criminals’ legs were often broken to speed death. But they did not break Jesus’ bones, and this connects to the Passover Lamb from Exodus 12:46 (NLT) where they were commanded, “…and do not break any of its bones.”

Jesus IS the Passover Lamb, the Final Sacrifice. (1 Corinthians 5:7)

Dividing Garments / Casting Lots

They divide my garments among themselves
and throw dice for my clothing.
Psalm 22:18 (NLT)

This is an oddly specific crucifixion detail that was fulfilled in John 19:23–24.

“Lifted Up” = The Means of Drawing All People

“And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself.“
He said this to indicate how He was going to die.
John 12:32–33 (NLT)

He made it clear how he was going to die.

Yes, the Roman cross seemed to be the perfect weapon. But the devil was, as Shakespeare so elegantly put it, “Hoist with his own petard.” Satan’s plan blew up in his face—and Jesus was left holding all the keys.

And now the Cross is a beautiful thing, which brings me to the picture you see above. It’s an image that has lived as a concept in my head for a very long time, one in which our triumphant Savior uses what was meant to destroy Him as a place of rest—and a reminder of His ultimate victory.

It wasn’t just that Jesus had to die.
He had to be lifted up.

As my Resurrection Sunday gift to you, here are two versions of this image:

Download The Perfect Weapon Web Header

Download The Perfect Weapon Wallpaper

They are AI creations (Thank you ChatGPT), so I claim no copyright, but I would appreciate it if you would keep my watermark should you choose to use or share them.

Sunday is on the way!

And remember, Jesus is too. If you haven’t already, now is the time to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. He died so that you could truly live, and at some point in the (I believe) very near future He will return to catch us away to be with Him forever.

The other option—choosing Hell over Him—is unthinkable. Don’t go there.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

“Why Have You Forsaken Me?” A Hidden Message from the Cross

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

This morning, I heard a minister say something that stopped me in my tracks.

He reminded me that the Bible’s chapters and verses are very new additions. In that era, if you wanted to draw someone’s attention to a particular passage, you’d quote the first words – similar to how we often mistake a song’s first line for its title today.

During Jesus’ days, the Bible was shared orally, and memorization was important. The psalms would have been well known by those who stood watching. According to this minister, and the idea rings true, when Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” He wasn’t merely crying out to God in anguish: He was intentionally pointing their hearts towards Psalm 22, a song that begins in devastation but ends in victory and a changed world.

Psalm 22 is written by David and ostensibly about him, but it is definitely prophetic and depicts the Crucifixion in astounding detail.

Anyone who, on that day, went in their thoughts to that particular psalm, and paid honest attention to its words, saw it playing out before their eyes.

But here’s the beautiful thing.

This psalm begins with suffering, with the devastation of being without God’s presence, but it ends in hope, in victory, in redemption.

Here is Psalm 22:27-31 in the NET version.

Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the LORD and turn to him! Let all the nations worship you! For the LORD is king and rules over the nations. All of the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives. A whole generation will serve him; they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. They will come and tell about his saving deeds; they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished.

When at last Jesus shouted, “It is finished!” He knew the best part of our story was just beginning. Or, as I noted in the margin of my Bible, “The Cross was unimaginably horrific for Jesus to face, but He faced it knowing what would come as a result.”

And that’s why Good Friday is truly good.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

When Darkness Fell: The Day That Changed Eternity

Tammy M Cardwell3 Comments

Like many people, I’ve been reading through the book of Luke this month, and today we reached one of the hardest and most beautiful chapters in the Bible: Luke 23.

Reading about how Jesus was treated on that last day is painful. To see Him accused unjustly and witness Pilate and Herod toss Him around like a ping pong ball hurts. Then, watching Pilate give into the crowd’s demands not because Jesus had been found guilty of anything, but because the crowd was overwhelming… You see just what a wimp Pilate was, really.

But when I keep my eyes on Jesus, I’m blown away. At any point, He had the right and authority to put an end to it all. He could have, but He’d already settled His course in the garden. He was determined to do God’s will no matter how much it hurt. So, rather than potentially say something that might hinder the process, He remained silent except for the one time He confirmed what Pilate had said about Him being king of the Jews. He literally could have called ten thousand angels and chose not to.

On the walk to Golgotha, He spoke only to the weeping women, giving them warning of what was to come. Then, once He’d been raised up on the cross, what did He say? “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” (verse 34, NET) Every time I read those words, I come to a full stop and consider: If Jesus, who was in a worse position than any man ever had been or would be again, could ask God to forgive those who were crucifying Him – even though they didn’t want or ask for forgiveness – who am I to hold grudges? Seriously? In eleven words He preached a sermon I will never forget.

His heart being what it was, it’s no surprise that He told the second criminal, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.” (verse 43)

At verse 44 we reach the beautiful part of this chapter. As the devil was no doubt rejoicing, God turned out the lights. Some have theorized that this was a solar eclipse, but it happened at Passover, so that’s not possible. Whatever God did, the result was no sun and no moon for three hours.

What would it have been like on that hill after three hours of darkness? I’m guessing it would have been nearly silent, maybe with the painful moans of the dying, the sound of weeping, and the steps of any soldiers who were on patrol. And then something completely unexpected happened.

Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Luke 23:46 NET (emphasis mine)

And then He breathed His last. And…? Can you imagine? It might as well have been the dead of night and a man who should have been barely breathing SHOUTED out such a declaration. Luke doesn’t tell us much beyond the impression it made on the centurion and that the crowds “returned home beating their breasts,” but you know it was a kick in the gut to every one of them.

About that same time, the veil in the Temple was torn completely in two from top to bottom. This “veil” was actually a curtain that was around 60 feet high and, according to ancient Jewish tradition, about 4 inches thick. It separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple, protecting man from God’s holy presence. When Jesus gave up His life as the sacrifice for our sins, that protection was no longer necessary.

Light dawned in that moment, and today we have the right to enter boldly into God’s presence!

I get to the resurrection tomorrow as I appropriately finish the book of Luke on the day we prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth, but I end today’s reading in joy for what Jesus had already done at 3:00 in the afternoon on a day darkness had ruled.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

“Go to Hell”

Tammy M CardwellLeave a comment

I’ll bet you never expected to see those words on this page. At least, I hope not. They are words I literally cannot imagine saying to a single soul, no matter how evil they might be.

Flashback Time

It was late on a starlit evening, so many years ago that I’ve no idea how long ago it was. I was standing outside after a meeting, talking to a dear, sweet friend who was also my pastor’s wife. We were discussing the Rapture and I told her how very much I wished it would happen right then. Her response surprised me.

I can’t remember exactly what she said, but it was something along the lines of, “Tammy, I know you don’t really mean that. There are too many people going to Hell, and you want them to get saved first.”

I learned a few things about myself that night.

  1. I’d not even been considering those people. All I knew was that my life was hard and I wanted the hard parts to be over ASAP. Yes, I was married to a narcissist and daily paid the price for that relationship, but that was some pretty narcissistic thinking on my part too!
  2. The Rapture, in that moment, was an escape plan more than anything else, and that is not what the Rapture is all about! The Rapture is about the Bride going to be with her Husband!
  3. The fact that I wasn’t thinking about those people meant two huge things.
          a. I didn’t have a genuine revelation of Hell.
          b. I didn’t truly have the love of God in my heart if I wanted anyone to go there.

It’s amazing how God can completely humble you with a few, well-chosen words from a friend! (The book of Proverbs talks about that!)

My heart started changing that night.
I got on my knees before God and begged Him to do some things in me.

I asked Him to teach me to love like He loves; I knew this was my greatest weakness. It’s taken years for me to get where I am today, and I have definitely not arrived. Walking in love is a continual choice, and I do fail. When I fail to share Jesus with someone God urges me to talk to, whether out of hurry or even fear, it’s because I don’t have enough love. If I want someone to suffer, it’s definitely because I don’t have enough love.

Love is a choice that requires action. It is also extremely powerful. It was love for God, and choosing to love my husband, that empowered me to stay married to him and take care of him when he’d have died if I’d walked away. Had God not empowered me to love him, I couldn’t have done it. People say they admire me for how I spent those last 12 years of his life, but it wasn’t me; it was God’s love working through me – because I let it, because I begged for it.

The other thing I asked God to do was give me a revelation of eternity so that I could really understand what it means when someone goes to Hell. Just sitting here thinking about the large numbers of people who are already there, and those who will be, has me in tears. Hell was not created for man, but for the fallen angels. Man chooses to go there when he refuses to accept Jesus’ work on the cross – and he has no idea what he’s doing.

Deception is the order of the day, and man has fallen for it so completely.

The world we live in is off the rails. In Matthew 24:37-39, Jesus talks about the last days and what this world will be like. “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Take a look at Noah’s story in Genesis and you’ll see how depraved that world had become, and just how much our world today resembles it.

The bottom line is that God essentially decided to destroy everything and start over.

So He had Noah build the boat, got Noah’s family and a bunch of animals in the boat, and shut the door. Yes, God shut the door; once the decision was made no one was permitted to change their minds. And right up until the rain started to fall, the people ignored Noah and his God, carrying on with their own, sinful lives. Yeah, much like today.

And much like those people, by their own choice, were left outside in the flood, a great multitude of people will be left here on Earth when the Church is called away. This event will be just as unexpected as the other, as Jesus said in verse 39, they “knew not until the flood came, and took them all away.”

Here’s the reality, after the Rapture of the Church those who are left behind will see hell on earth. The devil will have his opportunity to set up his kingdom just like he wants it, and he’ll subjugate everyone. He’ll only have seven years to do his evil work, but he’ll make the most of the time he’s given, and pretty much everyone on Earth will end up worshipping him.

Yes, most of those who remain here, according to prophecy, will end up in Hell. And if they do get saved, their lives, until they are martyred, will be hell on earth.

So yes, getting back to that original flashback, while I do pray, “Maranatha!,” which can be translated as, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!,” I also pray, “But God, please, save every soul you can possibly save before calling us home.”

Because I don’t want anyone, ANYONE, to go to Hell. It’s not just a limited prison sentence. They won’t do time for a while and then get released to Heaven. It’s FOREVER. And while forever is my favorite word because it’s holds so much promise, it is a painful word when I think of Hell and those who will go there. 

My husband spent many years not right with God. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to those who follow me. No matter how much he hurt me, I did not want him going to Hell, and I rejoice that he got right with God before the end. I have relatives and friends who have lost family members who were murdered. I don’t want those murderers going to Hell; I want them to get saved before they die!

Anything else would be ungodly, because God makes it clear in His Word that He wants the same.

Don’t go to Hell!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C