This weekend is Easter weekend… the label we’ve given the weekend that we remember Christ’s substitutionary death on the Cross, where He bore the full brunt of God’s Wrath in our place, so that by His Blood we might find forgiveness of sin.

Today, we will take a look at an older song (1986) and music video. It might even be considered a “Throw-Back Thursday (TBT)” occasion. However, I do need to make one thing absolutely clear. This is not an endorsement of the musician, Ray Boltz. I was deeply grieved at the news that Ray decided to embrace the sin of homosexuality and leave his family to live with another man. In grade school, I really enjoyed his music. Then there was the news that he resumed his career in 2010 with an album that was gay-affirming. Ray Boltz has abandoned repenting for this sin and now encourages others to follow suit in unrepentant sin. Today’s post isn’t about Ray Boltz, it’s about a good song he once wrote about the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Official Music Video

[youtube https://youtu.be/UNT1AThOgME]

Lyrics (via MetroLyrics)

Walking on the road to Jerusalem
The time had come to sacrifice again
My two small sons, they walk beside me on the road
The reason that they came was to watch the lamb

And they said, “Daddy, Daddy, what will we see there?
There’s so much that we don’t understand”
And so I told them of Moses and father Abraham
Then I said, “Dear children, watch the lamb”

There will be so many in Jerusalem today
We must be sure the lamb doesn’t run away
And I told them of Moses and father Abraham
Then I said, “Dear children, watch the lamb”

When we reached the city, I knew something must be wrong
There were no joyful worshipers there, no joyful worship songs
And I stood there with my children in the midst of angry men
Then I heard the crowd cry out, let’s crucify Him

We tried to leave the city but we could not get away
Forced to play in this drama, a part I did not wish to play
Why upon this day were men condemned to die?
Why were we standing here where soon they would pass by?

I looked and said, even now they come
The first one cried for mercy, the people gave him none
The second one was violent and he was arrogant and loud
I still here his angry voice screaming at the crowd

Then someone said, “There’s Jesus”, I scarce believed my eyes
A man so badly beaten, He barely looked alive
Blood poured from His body, from the thorns upon His brow
Running down the Cross, falling to the ground

I watched as He struggled, I watched Him when He fell
The cross came down upon His back, the crowd began to yell
In that moment I felt such agony, in that moment I felt such loss
Till a Roman soldier grabbed my arm and screamed
“You, carry His cross”

At first I tried to resist him, then his hand reached for his sword
So I knelt and took the Cross from the Lord
I put it on my shoulder and we started down the street
The blood that he’d been shedding was running down my cheek

They led us to Golgotha, they drove nails deep in His feet and hands
Yet upon the Cross I heard Him pray, “Father, forgive them”
Never have I seen such love in any other eyes
“Into Thy hands I commit my spirit”, He prayed and then He died

I stood for what seemed like years, I’d lost all sense of time
Until I felt two little hands holding tight to mine
The children stood there weeping, I heard the oldest say
“Father please forgive us, the lamb ran away”

“Daddy, daddy, what have we seen here?
There’s so much that we don’t understand?”
So I took them in my arms and we turned and faced the Cross
Then I said, “Dear children watch the lamb”

Songwriters
RAY BOLTZ

Published by
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC

Discussion

The song is written from the perspective of Simon of Cyrene, the one who carried the cross of Jesus to Golgotha.

Mark 15:6-22 (ESV) | Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

⁶ Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. ⁷ And among the rebels in prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. ⁸ And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. ⁹ And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰ For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. ¹² And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do withthe man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” ¹⁴ And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” ¹⁵ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

¹⁶ And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. ¹⁷ And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

²¹ And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. ²² And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).

He is mentioned in each account. Let us continue on in the Luke account.

Luke 23:26-34 (ESV)

²⁶ And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.²⁷ And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. ²⁸ But turning to them Jesus said,“Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³² Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him.³³ And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁴ And Jesus said,“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.

Luke 23:44-46 (ESV) | The Death of Jesus

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵ while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

As the song draws to a close, we see the lamb that the children were to keep watch over for the Passover, was replaced by the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world.

John 1:29-34 (ESV) | Behold, the Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

The Gospel Preached with Boldness

Acts 4:1-12 (ESV) | Peter and John Before the Council

1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, ² greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³ And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴ But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵ On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ⁶ with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷ And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” ⁸ Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹ if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed,¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹ This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

To God be the Glory, Amen.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge