The nails didn’t kill Jesus. Let me explain.

It typically took victims of crucifixion anywhere from one to four days to die—even up to a week. But Jesus expired after just six hours—most unusual.

To compare, the two crucified thieves were not even close to death after just six hours. For their deaths to be expedited in honor of the Sabbath, the soldiers had to break their legs.

The centurion in charge of Jesus’ crucifixion was surprised at His early expiration. He listened to all seven of Jesus’ sayings on the cross, but His final saying especially caught him. He heard Jesus announce His own expiration! Jesus said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46), and then He breathed His last. The centurion was a professional who had presided over many crucifixions, but a victim announcing his own expiration? Unprecedented. When he saw the manner in which Jesus breathed his last, the centurion exclaimed, “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Luke 23:47). “Truly this Man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).

Furthermore, Pilate was also surprised at Jesus’ early expiration. When Joseph of Arimathea told Pilate that Jesus had died, Pilate was incredulous. It was too early. He consulted immediately with the centurion and was surprised to learn that Jesus had, in fact, died after just six hours. That was an uncommonly brief time for someone of Jesus’ age and health.

Why did Jesus die after only six hours on the cross? Because He didn’t die of crucifixion.

Jesus told His disciples that the Father had given Him the power to lay His life down, and also the power to take it again (see John 10:18). He had the power to expire whenever He chose.

Jesus didn’t die of crucifixion; rather, He died of His own volition.

Jesus had the power, after hanging on the cross for an hour, to call it quits and expire. But He continued to hang there because He was resolved to complete the task the Father had given Him. His task was to pay the full purchase price for our redemption.

Jesus was not kept on the cross by the nails; He was kept on the cross by His own voluntary resolve. He was determined to stay on the cross until the work was accomplished.

When Jesus labored on the cross, what was the value of His hourly wage? Was His work worth $1 million an hour? $1 billion an hour? Much more than that, His work was priceless.

On the cross, Jesus absorbed the Father’s wrath against sin. The Father’s hand on Him was the greatest weight of His sufferings. Jesus was enduring the punishment for our peace (Isa 53:5). But after six hours, the Father’s hand lifted, and a huge sense of reprieve swept over Jesus’ soul. The work was done! The Father was satisfied! “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

When the work was finished, Jesus expired.

What’s our takeaway from Jesus’ example? Finish the thing. When you’re laboring in the Spirit for something, work the thing until it’s finished.

Jesus was laboring to buy the authority to break the seals and open the scroll of the Father’s destiny for His life (Rev 5). If you’re in a trial, maybe you’re also laboring for something. Perhaps you’re laboring, just like Jesus, to buy the authority to open the scroll of the Father’s story for your life.

Are you in a fiery trial? Don’t lose heart. Don’t quit. Don’t tap out. Don’t grow sluggish. Work! Why would you want release from your cross before the work was finished? Labor in the Spirit, endure to the end, buy the authority, and work the thing until it’s finished.

“But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).

Finish the thing.

After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to His disciples on several occasions and left them with some final instructions before ascending to His Father in heaven. His directives were mostly forward-looking and vision-casting regarding the Great Commission that lay before them. But the cross was such a huge event that Jesus took time in His visits with the disciples to look back and debrief with them about it.

Here’s what He said to them about His cross:

Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day (Luke 24:46).

His message was very clear—His sufferings were necessary.

Consider for a moment what He didn’t say about the cross. He didn’t say, “That was the greatest injustice of human history—it should have never happened!” True, it was the greatest injustice of human history, but yet it had to happen.

Jesus didn’t say, “Pilate really blew that one! His wife warned him, but the man wouldn’t listen. And the chief priests? They’re going to regret that one big time! Just wait till Judgment Day and see how they fare.” He didn’t talk about the way the leaders sinned against Him.

Jesus didn’t say, “The devil really came after Me. He raged against Me and tried to take Me out. And just when his attack was the most fierce, all you guys abandoned Me. Where were you at crunch time? You said you were willing to die with Me, but then, when I needed you most, you disappeared.” No, Jesus didn’t talk about Satan’s agenda at the cross—even though Satan clearly had one. Nor did He speak of His disciples’ failures.

Here’s what Jesus was saying:

“I had to do the cross—to fulfill Scripture.”
“I had to do the cross—to complete all righteousness.”
“I had to do the cross—to destroy the devil.”
“I had to do the cross—to overcome sin, hell, and the grave.”
“I had to do the cross—to purchase your redemption.”
“I had to do the cross—to heal your infirmities.”
“I had to do the cross—to become a faithful High Priest.”
“I had to do the cross—to earn My stripes as the Captain of your salvation.”
In light of God’s eternal plan to redeem humanity, Jesus was saying that the cross was necessary.

Peter Used the Same Word

When Peter wrote about fiery trials in his first epistle, he also used the same Greek word for necessary.

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:6-7).

A literal rendering of the phrase, if need be would read if being necessary. Peter was literally saying, “Sometimes our fiery trials are necessary.”

By using the same word Jesus used to describe His sufferings, Peter was drawing a straight line between the cross and our fiery trials. He was indicating that our sufferings in our fiery trials are directly connected to Jesus’ sufferings on the cross. Peter was inferring, just as it was necessary for Jesus to suffer on the cross, sometimes it’s also necessary for us to suffer fiery trials.

Just as the cross was a fiery trial that tested Jesus’ faith, your point of suffering is a fiery trial that is testing your faith.

Some people will likely look at your difficulty and say to you, “This isn’t right. This should have never happened to you.” But from God’s perspective, it’s the trial that’s making you who you are. It’s producing in you more fruit to God than ever. It’s revealing God’s redemption in your family. It’s giving God room to write a great story with your life.

Your trial is your certification (1 Pet 1:6-7). The way you walk through it demonstrates to heaven and earth that your faith is authentic.

Peter said the faith we obtain in fiery trials is much more precious than gold that perishes (1 Pet 1:7). It’s incorruptible (1 Pet 1:4). How can we gain a faith that’s so much more valuable and priceless than gold? There’s really only one way—through fiery trials.

To gain faith this precious, sometimes we need trials in our lives.

This post is adapted from chapter two in Bob’s book, SOMETIMES WE NEED TRIALS. For more information on that book, go here.

The word the Lord has given me for 2023 is found in 1 Cor 16:13, “Be brave” (NKJV).

Other translations render it, “Be courageous.” “Quit yourselves like men.” “Show courage.” “Do manfully.” “Be men.” “Act like men.” “Acquit yourselves like men.”

In the Greek, it’s a single word, and could be literally rendered, “Act the man.” Or, as one  interlinear translates it, “Play the man.”

To say it in a contemporary idiom, we could say, “Man up.”

This call to courage from the apostle Paul mirrors the Lord’s call to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage” (Joshua 1:6).

I sense the Lord saying to us, Move forward in 2023 with boldness and bravery.

This is not a year to shrink back, or be intimidated, or reserved, or self-preserving. Don’t simply play it safe. Rather, obey the call of the Lord with courage and strength.

There are lots of reasons in 2023 to be cautious, timid, reticent, tentative, apprehensive, afraid. Following Jesus is more unpopular today than I can remember in my lifetime. But all those reasons for caution are based in human evaluations of the terrain before us. None of those reasons to be nervous or hesitant proceed from the Holy Spirit.

Yes, we should be wise, discerning, fully alert, and self-controlled; but not timid and self-preserving.

I’ve learned something about courage from Ezra 3:3. At the time of that verse, the people of Israel faced fearful threats and danger from the people of the lands around them. But still, they bravely built an altar to God. Courage is not what you do in the absence of fear and danger, but what you do in the face of fear and danger.

Jesus demonstrated this kind of bravery when He stroke forward toward Calvary.

Do you face fearful threats, potential danger, or possible backlash in 2023? Man up. Be brave. Put on the full armor of God, take your stand, and step forward in obedience to the Holy Spirit.

God is with you in 2023. Be brave!

Bob presents the message of this post in a 3-minute video on YouTube. To watch it, go here

On the night of His betrayal—just hours before He would be crucified—Jesus endeavored to prepare His disciples for His excruciating death. He knew what was coming but they didn’t. To help them process what they were about to witness, Jesus used a metaphor.

“A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” (John 16:21).

The disciples didn’t fully understand in that moment, but He was saying to them, “I’m pregnant.”

He was pregnant with Prophecy; He was pregnant with Purpose; He was pregnant with Possibility.

Things were about to get messy.

In essence, Jesus was alerting them, “I’m about to go into labor—into hard labor. You’re going to be distracted with the anguish, the sorrow, the travail, the birth pangs, the contractions, the pushing.”

At the cross, we’re looking at God in labor; at the resurrection, we see the baby being born. The resurrection was the birthing of our salvation.

Why was the labor so intense? Because it was a real big baby!

When the disciples looked at the cross, they saw everything shutting down; but when God looked at the cross, He saw everything opening up.

When the disciples looked at the cross, they saw the end of everything; when God looked at the cross, He saw a new beginning to everything.

When the disciples looked at the cross, all they could see was a massive setback; when God looked at the cross, He saw a massive setup.

When the disciples looked at the cross, they saw Jesus getting crushed in the heel; when God looked at the cross, He saw Satan getting crushed in the head (Gen 3:15).

When the disciples looked at the cross, all they could see was a tomb; when God looked at the cross, He saw a womb (John 16:21).

When we look at our fiery trials, sometimes all we can see is a tomb. “This thing is killing me!” But through the example of the cross we can see how God takes the very thing we thought was our end, and He makes it, by His redemptive grace, a portal to birth new possibilities in the kingdom of God for us, our family, and our generation.

This post is an excerpt from Chapter One in Bob’s new book, It’s Not a Tomb It’s a Womb. For book information click here.

We’re in a global pandemic of anxiety right now. Between coronavirus, the war in Ukraine, and the economy, the whole world is trembling. Millions are anxious about their health, or finances, or relationships, or job, or world peace.

What should Christians do when they realize they’re being tempted with anxiety? Here’s an answer to consider: View anxiety like a rock in the garden of your heart.

I have in mind Jesus’ parable of the sower (see Mark 4:1-20). He spoke of four different heart responses to the word of God. The second heart response in His parable was that of the stony heart (Mark 4:5-6). Stones in a garden inhibit the ability of roots to go deep. When roots remain shallow, the plant will spring up quickly but then be scorched easily when conditions are adversarial.

Here’s how Jesus described the stony heart:

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble (Mark 4:16-17).

What are stones? Pockets of sin that hinder root development. All Christians have stones in their hearts, whether many or few, whether large or small.

Stones will surprise you. When gardeners turn over the soil of their gardens in the spring, they’ll sometimes hit into a stone they didn’t know was there. How did that stone suddenly get in their garden? Well, it was there all along, but it didn’t appear until a new season surfaced it. That’s because winter seasons cause stones to move toward the surface.

A change of seasons can cause stones to surface in your heart. For example, I can imagine a believer saying, “I have no fear! By the grace of God, I’ve gained the victory and don’t struggle with fear anymore. I am anxious about nothing!” And then along comes 2020 and coronavirus. Suddenly, that believer is shaken to the core, and they’re unexpectedly struggling with a stone of anxiety in their hearts. Where did that stone come from? Well, it was there all along—it just needed the right season to bring it to the surface.

Once you hit into a stone, you face a decision. Either you do the hard work of digging it out, or you tolerate it and leave it buried. But if we tolerate pockets of compromise in our hearts, we’ll never be 100-fold fruitful Christians. Those stones will hinder our fruitfulness. To be more fruitful, we must dig up any stones we encounter and throw them away.

What are some stones that can hinder the fruitfulness of our hearts? Here’s a sampling: Unforgiveness, pride, anger, hatred, bad habits, dating an unbeliever, envy, evil speaking, sexual sin, covetousness, foolish talking, stubbornness, fear.

Porn is a stone. Any believer who tolerates a stone of porn in their lives will never be 100-fold fruitful. Be violent with that stone and make a covenant with your eyes (Job 31:1). (My book, A Covenant With My Eyes, tells my story with this stone.)

Okay, full disclosure. I’ve been tempted with anxiety the past couple years. Why? Because coronavirus fallout has impacted my life in a very direct way.

Battling anxiety has been a new experience for me. I can’t remember the last time I struggled with it. But then my season changed—that is, 2020 came along. Suddenly, I was looking at a stone in my heart that I didn’t even realize was there. A new season had surfaced it.

I decided to go after that stone with spiritual violence. I said to my son, “Michael, you’re going to be my confessor. I’m going to confess my sin to you, and in the spirit of James 5:16, I want you to pray for me so that I might be healed.”

I told him the nature of my anxieties, and then he prayed for me. His prayer was short and simple. And here’s what happened: That stone was evicted immediately! My victory was virtually instantaneous. I truly experienced the joy of James 5:16.

Here’s the problem with anxiety. It engages in a battle for which there’s zero grace. God never gives grace to engage with tomorrow’s evil. Jesus said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt 6:34).

Jesus practiced this precept at the cross. He didn’t engage in prayer with the troubles of the cross until the day of His crucifixion. When that day finally arrived, He went to Gethsemane and agonized in prayer over the evil He was about to face. And He received grace to endure that day.

Most of us are tempted at some point to be anxious about tomorrow. What should we do with that temptation? Approach it like a stone in your garden. Do whatever you must to dig it up and get it out of your heart.

If you tolerate a stone of anxiety in your heart, fiery trials will really set you back. Whether it’s physical infirmity, or financial hardship, or marital stress, or persecution, the heat of a fiery trial will hit you real hard, and your fruitfulness will be curtailed.

If, on the other hand, you resolve in your heart to resist anxiety and labor in prayer only regarding today’s troubles, you’ll find grace and mercy at the throne of God for today’s needs (Heb 4:16). His grace will empower your heart to get free of the stone of anxiety.

Jesus’ inherent assurance in the parable is so encouraging: If we’ll remove every stone we find in our hearts, we will most certainly bear more fruit!

(Bob expects to write a book eventually on Jesus’ parable of the sower. If you sign up on Bob’s email list here, you’ll receive email notification each time Bob releases a new book.)