He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart

by Max Lucado

Jesus was beaten with whips and handed over to the soldiers to be crucified. The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and they all gathered around him. They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him. Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Jesus. Then they took his stick and began to beat him on the head. After they finished, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. (Matt. 27:26–31)

But here the correlation with Beauty and the Beast ends. In the fable, the beauty kisses the beast. In the Bible, the Beauty does much more. He becomes the beast so the beast can become the beauty. Jesus changes places with us. We, like Adam, were under a curse, but Jesus “changed places with us and put himself under that curse” (Gal. 3:13).

The sinless One took on the face of a sinner so that we sinners could take on the face of a saint.

Fear? He never left the presence of God! Jesus never knew the fruits of sin . . . until he became sin for us.

He forgave all our sins. He canceled the debt, which listed all the rules we failed to follow. He took away that record with its rules and nailed it to the cross. Colossians 2:13–14

There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. Romans 3:22–25 NIV

The list of our weaknesses. Would you like anyone to see yours? Would you like them made public? How would you feel if they were posted high so that everyone, including Christ himself, could see? May I take you to the moment it was? Yes, there is a list of your failures. Christ has chronicled your shortcomings. And, yes, that list has been made public. But you’ve never seen it. Neither have I. Come with me to the hill of Calvary, and I’ll tell you why. Watch as the soldiers shove the Carpenter to the ground and stretch his arms against the beams. One presses a knee against a forearm and a spike against a hand. Jesus turns his face toward the nail just as the soldier lifts the hammer to strike it. Couldn’t Jesus have stopped him? With a flex of the biceps, with a clench of the fist, he could have resisted. Is this not the same hand that stilled the sea? Cleansed the Temple? Summoned the dead? But the fist doesn’t clench . . . and the moment isn’t aborted. The mallet rings and the skin rips and the blood begins to drip, then rush. Then the questions follow. Why? Why didn’t Jesus resist? “Because he loved us,” we reply. That is true, wonderfully true, but—forgive me—only partially true. There is more to his reason. He saw something that made him stay. As the soldier pressed his arm, Jesus rolled his head to the side, and with his cheek resting on the wood he saw: A mallet? Yes. A nail? Yes. The soldier’s hand? Yes. But he saw something else. He saw the hand of God. It appeare...

Why is a sign placed over the head of Jesus? Why does its wording trouble the Jews, and why does Pilate refuse to change it? Why are the words written in three languages, and why is the sign mentioned in all four Gospels? Of all the possible answers to these questions, let’s focus on one. Could it be that this piece of wood is a picture of God’s devotion? A symbol of his passion to tell the world about his Son? A reminder that God will do whatever it takes to share with you the message of this sign? I suggest that the sign reveals two truths about God’s desire to reach the world. There

In every age of history, on every page of Scripture, the truth is revealed: God allows us to make our own choices. And no one delineates this more clearly than Jesus. According to him, we can choose: a narrow gate or a wide gate (Matt. 7:13–14)

narrow road or a wide road (Matt. 7:13–14) the big crowd or the small crowd (Matt. 7:13–14) We can choose to: build on rock or sand (Matt. 7:24–27) serve God or riches (Matt. 6:24) be numbered among the sheep or the goats (Matt. 25:32–33)

“Then they [those who rejected God] will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eter...

Though we come to the cross dressed in sin, we leave the cross dressed in the “coat of his strong love” (Isa. 59:17) and girded with a belt of “goodness and fairness” (Isa. 11:5) and clothed in “garments of salvation” (Isa. 61:10 NIV). Indeed, we leave dressed in Christ himself. “You have all put on Christ as a garment” (Gal. 3:27 NEB).

As boldly as the center beam proclaims God’s holiness, the crossbeam declares his love. And, oh, how wide his love reaches.

But though they may exclude you, Christ includes you. When asked to describe the width of his love, he stretched one hand to the right and the other to the left and had them nailed in that position so you would know he died loving you.

And we are left with the relics of his death. Three nails in a bin. Three cross-shaped shadows. A braided crown with scarlet tips. Bizarre, isn’t it? The thought that this blood is not man’s blood but God’s? Crazy, isn’t it? To think that these nails held your sins to a cross?

These players and props were heaven picked and God ordained. We were not asked to design the hour. But we have been asked to respond to it. In order for the cross of Christ to be the cross of your life, you and I need to bring something to the hill.

We have seen what Jesus brought. With scarred hands he offered forgiveness. Through torn skin he promised acceptance. He took the path to take us home. He wore our garment to give us his own. We have seen the gifts he brought.

Now we ask, what will we bring? We aren’t asked to paint the sign or carry the nails. We aren’t asked to wear the spit or bear the crown. But we are asked to walk the path and leave something a...

You’ve seen what Christ left. Won’t you leave something as well? Why don’t you start with your bad moments? Those bad habits? Leave them at the cross. Your selfish moods and white lies? Give them to God. Your binges and bigotries? God wants them all. Every flop, every failure. He wants every single one. Why? Because he knows we can’t live with them.

Does God want us to live like that? No way. Listen to his promise: “This is my commitment to my people: removal of their sins” (Rom. 11:27 MSG). God does more than forgive our mistakes; he removes them! We simply have to take them to him. He not only wants the mistakes we’ve made. He wants the ones we are making! Are you making some? Are you drinking too much? Are you cheating at work or cheating at marriage? Are you mismanaging money? Are you mismanaging your life? If so, don’t pretend nothing is wrong. Don’t pretend you don’t fall. Don’t try to get back in the game. Go first to God. The first step after a stumble must be in the direction of the cross. “If we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away” (1 John 1:9 CEV). What can you leave at the cross?

“Just look what I did for you,” he reminds us and points to the cross.

You and I are commanded—not urged, commanded—to keep no list of wrongs.