Dr. Ray Pritchard Christian Blog and Commentary

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Golgotha: Were You There?

  • Dr. Ray Pritchard
    Dr. Ray Pritchard is the president of Keep Believing Ministries, an Internet-based ministry serving Christians in 225 countries. He is the author of 29 books, including Stealth Attack, Fire and Rain,… More
  • Published Mar 30, 2012

“They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull)" (Mark 15:22).

It’s Friday morning, 9 A.M. Killing time in Jerusalem.

Outside the Damascus Gate is a road and on the other side of the road is a flat area near the spot where the prophet Jeremiah is buried. Up above you can see a rocky outcropping that, if studied at a certain angle, looks like a skull. Eroded into the limestone are two sockets for the eyes, a place for the nose and maybe a place for the mouth.

Skull Hill, they called it. Golgotha.

Consider these three words from Mark 15:25, “They crucified him.” The word “they” speaks of the people who crucified our Lord. The “they” included the Romans, the Jews, and it includes you and me. We all had our share in the death of Jesus.

The word “crucified” speaks of the painful death he suffered. Crucifixion was the ultimate punishment in that day. It represented the final judgment of the world on Jesus: “This man deserves to die.” Though he had done no wrong, They crucified him anyway.

The word “him” speaks of the person who died that day. This was no ordinary man. As the centurion cried out when Jesus died, “Surely, this was the Son of God!”

I heard a story recently about a man who visited Golgotha and the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. Overwhelmed, he began to weep. “Have you ever been here before?” someone asked. “Oh, yes,” he replied. “I was here 2000 years ago.”

The song Were You There? asks a question we ought to ponder today:

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Lord Jesus, we tremble to think of what you endured for our salvation. May we never be ashamed of Jesus or what he did for us so long ago. Amen. 

You can reach the author at ray@keepbelieving.com. Click here to sign up for the free email sermon.