How far down did our Redeemer go? "He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross," Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:8. Jesus not only died but He died the most horrible death know in His day - perhaps in any day. Crucifixion was designed to make the victim suffer as much and for as long as possible. So horrible was the cross that no Roman citizen was ever to hang on one. It was reserved for the worst of miscreants, the worthless alien - and God's holy Son.
Why didn't the God-man, with just a flick of His little finger, pluck those penetrating nails from his limbs? Why didn't He, with just a little glance of His mighty eyes, level those blasphemers parading beneath His cross with the ground? Why did He suffer the god-awful pain of the cross and the even greater godforsaken pain of hell? Listen to the apostle Paul again, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'." (Colossians 3:13) The Son of God humbled Himself and was crucified to redeem us.
"As Luther Taught the Word of Truth," page 53
