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Mark 
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Day 325

Acts 4:12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12"

Day 325 – Mark 15

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12

GOLGOTHA

The tortuous journey had come to an end at last! The prisoners who had been condemned to be crucified had reached Golgotha.

“And they brought Him to the place Golgotha,
which is translated, Place of a Skull.”
MARK 15:22

The place of crucifixion was well-named. The craggy hill resembled a human skull. Golgotha added a further touch of gruesomeness to the place of crucifixion.

AN ACT OF KINDNESS?

There were different ways in which Rome could have exacted punishment. To all who were Romans by citizenship belonged the privilege of being beheaded. Death came instantaneously. Execution by crucifixion was one of the more barbarous ways of sentencing a person to death. It often took days before a prisoner died by crucifixion! Jesus was consigned to be crucified!

“Then they gave Him wine mingled with myrrh to drink,
but He did not take it.”
MARK 15:23

It was a common practice for the Romans to give to those about to be crucified a special drink. This mixture of wine and myrrh had a numbing effect. The excruciating pain of nails being driven into the hands and feet would be less felt, if this drink was taken. Perhaps this was an act of kindness that the Roman authorities felt they owed to all prisoners doomed to die by crucifixion.

BUT HE DID NOT TAKE IT!

Why would Jesus not take the drink that could have eased His pain? The words of Isaiah come to mind again.

“Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows…

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed…

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin…”
ISAIAH 53:4, 5, 10

Jesus had to bear the full brunt of this judgment for mankind’s sins! He could not seek to lessen the pain of the suffering that He had to endure as an offering for sin!