When Jesus Died On The Cross
The Main Gate at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
The sign reads: "Work Makes You Free"
Photo: © Noel Moore Fotolia.com
He Took Our Pain
Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. HEBREWS 2:14-16
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 1 PETER 2:24
Jesus identified with all human suffering - even the atrocities committed by the Nazis against the Jews - when he died an agonising death on the cross at Calvary. And in a mystery we cannot fully understand, he entered all human suffering and by his death and resurrection drew the sting of pain and death for all humanity.
Corrie ten Boom
Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian imprisoned with her sister Betsie in Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1944, where Betsie died.
Corrie was released on Christmas Day 1945 - it appeared later to have been a clerical error - a week before all women of her age were killed.
She later toured the world and was the subject of a film The Hiding Place, which told the story of God's gracious provision while she was imprisoned.
She often quoted her sister Betsie's words: "There is no pit so deep that God is not in it."
