In the Shadow of Golgotha

I thought it would be good as it's almost Easter, to share a song, written by a bloke called Phil Overton, which once touched me:

See the darkness gather in the eastern sky,
A mystery of darkness coming from on high.
A young man is hanging on a cross to die,
The Son of God left alone in agony.

This is no romantic green hill far away
This is Golgotha, and I hear the people say:
“It’s the place of a skull, meant for vagabonds and thieves.
It’s the place of a skull, and nobody ever leaves… ever leaves alive.”

The eastern sky is red, and the young man now is dead.
A cross-shaped shadow lengthens on the ground.
After all the pan, well your gonna look in vain,
For his so called friends, but they’re nowhere to be found.

This is no halo-shrouded stained glass window scene,
This is Golgotha, and I know just what they mean:
“It’s a place of a skull, meant for vagabonds and thieves.
It’s the place of a skull, and nobody ever leaves… ever leaves alive.”

Suddenly it’s morning, and the darkness disappears,
A girl is softly crying, she’s blinded by her tears
Jesus stands beside her and he gently speaks her name,
All at once she knows, “He’s alive again… HE’S ALIVE AGAIN!”

And this is no fairy story but reality.
Death it couldn't hold him.
He arose in victory!
From the place of a skull, to a place of majesty,
From the place of a skull, to a place where we can see that He’s alive…
Oh yeah, Jesus is alive
Jesus is alive,
Jesus is alive.

Jesus didn't endure the cross, because it would make him famous, nor because he was a masochist. He was tempted to escape before he was arrested... and he could have done it too! He chose to stay, to make a sacrifice for our sins. That we might experience the Father's forgiveness. We can't comprehend in full, the pain of that sacrifice. It wasn't just nails and lashes. The Father could not look on the sin of humanity, and had to turn his face away... until it was finished. He had to separate himself from his Son, the person who was completely connected to him "of one being with the Father". Imagine ripping half of your brain out, as well as losing a loved one.. you might get a sense of it... but never the full measure.

Why did God do it? Here's why (taken from John 3):

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

and Romans 5:7-9

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!"

If you wish to know more, ask somebody at your local church!

Love and blessings and best wishes for England.

Nick