Episode 38: A Deep Dive into Jesus's Incredible Sacrifice

Jesus's crucifixion.  

I'm sure you read the Bible story every Easter, or maybe more often than that.  Me too.  But the year I read the Bible cover to cover, I read it with a new lens.  And I uncovered a bunch of supernatural events surrounding Jesus's crucifixion.  

• A three-hour eclipse of the sun in the middle of the day. 
• A curtain or veil located a mile away in the Temple in Jerusalem that tore from top to bottom at the moment of Jesus's death. 
• An earthquake! 
• The bodies of many buried holy people were raised to life.

It's as if God was making it unmistakably clear to the observers that this was no ordinary Roman crucifixion.  God was in charge -- he always was and he always will be!

Join me and my very insightful guest who you met last week, Angel Ambrose, for a nitty gritty discussion of all these points of the story, in addition to our examination of Jesus's cry, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Learn more about Angel here.

Transcript

Speaker 0:01

Hi, I'm your host Lori Larson, and this is the year I read the Bible. Welcome a Lifelong Christian. I thought I was familiar with the Bible, but in 2023 I accepted the challenge of reading the whole thing, cover to cover. Whenever I encountered something I didn't understand or wanted to learn more. I jotted it down, but I kept reading to stay on schedule. Then I reached the end Imagine Confetti rating down on me, and a huge sigh of relief. I had 40 topics to research in 2024. I started diving into all those topics. I did research, I wrote blogs and I shared them with whoever might wanna learn too. And in 2025, the project continues. I published a book containing all my essays, and now a podcast. Is there something you can learn from that dusty book that sits on all of our shelves? Yes. Yes, there is. Let's dive into

1:13

The year I read the Bible.

Speaker 1:21

Hello listeners. Today we'll be talking about Jesus's crucifixion every year. We recognize this day on what we call in the Christian Church. Good Friday. An ironic title if there ever was One. Bad Friday might be a more accurate title, or Dark Friday, but no. In reality, the event of Jesus's crucifixion was good for mankind because even though Jesus's crucifixion was by anyone's standards horrible. It was also Good Friday due to God's incredible gift to humankind. In today's essay, we'll be covering some of the nuts and bolts of the crucifixion. I'm sure like me, you've read the account many, many times. But during the year I read the Bible, I read it with a fresh eye and really dug in deep and researched those details that weren't entirely clear to me. That's what I'll be sharing in this essay. Here we go. A deep dive into Jesus's incredible sacrifice in my journey of sharing what I've learned about the Bible. We've now reached the crucifixion that brutal, horrible, most painful of endings. As a child, I always wondered after the joyous celebration of Palm Sunday, why? Why did he have to die this way? But of course, he had to die this way. There was no other way, and also it's not an ending. He had to rise again to accomplish God's magnificent, amazing story of redemption. Let's read Matthew's account of the Death of Jesus. Chapter 27. Translated here in the new international version. Verse 45 from noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eli, Eli, Lehe, Ani, which means My God, my God why have you forsaken me? When some of those standing there heard this, they said he's calling Elijah. Immediately. One of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him. And when Jesus had cried out again and loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn into from top to bottom. The earth shook the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus' resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the Centurion and those with him who were guarding. Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened. They were terrified and exclaimed. Surely he was the son of God.

5:06

There's a great deal to unpack in that short section.

Speaker 5:12

Let's dig in. I'm using analysis provided by a website called Enduring Word. So at the beginning there, verse 45, from noon until three in the afternoon, darkness came all over the land. Bible scholars say that although this unusual darkness lasted for three hours, this was not the entire time Jesus was on the cross. Jesus hung on the cross for about six hours between nine in the morning and three in the afternoon. The first three hours of Jesus's ordeal were in normal daylight, so that all could see that it was, in fact, Jesus on the cross and not a replacement or an imposter. A natural eclipse wouldn't have lasted anywhere near three hours. This darkness was also remarkable because it happened during a full moon, during which time Passover was always held and during a full moon. It is impossible that there be a natural eclipse of the sun. Interestingly, there was historic documentation outside of the Bible for this phenomenon. Flagon a Roman historian, wrote, quote, in the fourth year of the 202nd of Olympiad, there was an extraordinary eclipse of the sun At the sixth hour, the day turned into dark night, so that the stars in heaven were seen and there was an earthquake. 19th Century Bible analyst Charles Spurgeon interpreted the darkness this way. The darkness is the symbol of the wrath of God, which fell on those who slew his only begotten son. God was angry and his frown removed the light of day. Verse 46. About three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice. Eli, Eli lema Ani, which means My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Okay guys, I'm going to attempt to explain this one, but let's all be assured that as author Larry White said in his article, why did Jesus cry? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's puzzling to say the least, quote. In the most critical moment of the entire Bible. The moment when Jesus dies on the cross, he shouts a phrase that can be puzzling to those of us reading the account so many centuries later. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? End quote. I've always considered that it was Jesus's human side that caused him to express this thought after so many hours of pain, humiliation, and disrespect. In fact, the night before, after the last supper with his disciples, he went to the Mount of Olives to pray, and he was agonizing about the crucifixion. Then Luke 2242. Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done. It's completely understandable that he was scared and he wanted out of it. Although any of us, when faced with the horrible circumstance of dying by being nailed to a cross and hanging there for six hours would be completely justified in feeling forsaken by God. Jesus didn't. After all, he's not half human and half God. He's fully human and fully God. Remember, he was part of creating this plan from the very beginning before Adam and Eve created sin in the first place. Go all the way back to my second episode on this podcast as a reminder. Enduring word interprets it this way, listen to it, and then listen to it again because I guarantee it takes a little while to settle in. Quote. The agony of this cry is significant. It rarely grieves man to be separated from God or to consider that he is a worthy object of God's wrath. Yet this was the true agony of Jesus on the cross. At some point before he died, an awesome spiritual transaction took place. God the Father, laid upon God the son, all the guilt and wrath. Our sin deserved, and he bore it in himself perfectly, totally satisfying. The wrath of God for us, as horrible as the physical suffering of Jesus was this spiritual suffering. The act of being judged for sin in our place was what Jesus really dreaded about the cross. This was the cup. The cup of God's righteous wrath that he trembled at drinking on the cross. Jesus became, as it were, an enemy of God who was judged and forced to drink the cup of the father's fury. He did it so we would not have to drink that cup in the absolute worst moment of his life on earth. Jesus, the teacher teaches us one more thing. His anguished words are taken directly from Psalm 22, written by King David and thought by Bible scholars to be a vision where David saw this exact moment of the future. Death of God's Messiah. By quoting the first line of the familiar Psalm, Jesus's Jewish followers would recognize it and go look up the rest of it and understand it is the greatest proof and illustration of God's immense love for all mankind, to expect his son to take on the payment for all of our human sins so that the debt is paid forever and always by Jesus. Verse 51. At that moment, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. What is this curtain that the Bible references? Well, within the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, a veil or curtain separated the Holy of Holies. Which was the earthly dwelling place of God's presence from the rest of the temple where men dwelt This signified that man was separated from God by sin. Only the high priest was permitted to pass beyond this veil and only once each year to enter God's presence for all of Israel and make atonement for their sins. Historians estimate that the curtain was nearly 60 feet tall. The size and thickness of the veil make the events occurring at the moment of Jesus' death on the cross. So much more momentous. The fact that it was torn from top to bottom symbolizes that it was God above who did the tearing. Above all the tearing of the veil at the moment of Jesus' death dramatically symbolized that the shedding of his own blood was a sufficient atonement for sins. It signified that now the way into the Holy of Holies was open for all people, for all time, both Jew and Gentile. The rest of verse 51 into 52, the earth shook the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. Wowza, a supernaturally extended eclipse of the sun, an earthquake. A 60 foot long curtain in the temple, a mile away tore from top to bottom. And now bodies of holy people who were dead and buried were raised to life. It's clear what God is proclaiming about this event. This was no ordinary crucifixion and only God Almighty can perform these miraculous events. And don't you guys forget it. Verse 54, when the centurion and those with him who were guarding, Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened. They were terrified and exclaimed. Surely he was the son of God. The scene at the crucifixion of Jesus was so striking that even a hardened Roman centurion confessed that this was the son of God. This man had supervised the death of perhaps hundreds of other men by crucifixion, but he knew there was something absolutely unique about Jesus. This event was undeniable. And impossible to pass off as just another Roman crucifixion. Just as Jesus performed miracles to convince people that he was the son of God, God used miraculous events to convince everyone that he is Lord forward. We've taken a deep dive into the crucifixion, and as I said before. It requires repetition and study to fully understand everything God was doing as the master planner, but at the heart of it all is his immense and unending love for us, his children. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, we thank you. And we thank you again, and we never stop thanking you for what you did on that cross for us. By taking human sin onto your back, you paid the ultimate price of redemption to the father. You who were sinless took on the weight of human sin, past, present, and future. You died for me. You died for everyone who has ever lived, and forgiveness is ours because of you. We love you and we ask that you help us show it every day of our lives. Amen. Okay. That was quite a topic to dive into. Next, I invite back my very insightful guest from last week, angel Ambrose, so stay tuned.

Laurie 17:16

Listeners, we are back and if you were around for last week and my interview with my guest, angel Ambrose, you are gonna be so happy to be back again with Angel. She's here with me to talk about Jesus's incredible sacrifice. So Angel, welcome back.

Angel 17:36

Thank you. It's good to be back with you.

Laurie 17:41

We, talked about abide in me and the true vine last week, and you raised so many interesting points about that analogy that Jesus gave us. And you know, Jesus just always talked in examples and. Analogies and parables, and it's so interesting to interpret those. In this essay though, I cover some of the horrible. Painful, but absolutely necessary details of Jesus's crucifixion. It's truly the basis of the Christian faith, of course, partnered with the resurrection. So in this essay, I took a deep dive into some of the ingredients of the story that I felt I could learn more about.

Angel 18:38

Mm-hmm.

Laurie 18:38

truly understand what that day was like for Jesus and his followers. And I call it a deep dive because, we've always read the story of the crucifixion. But what are some of those points that I don't think I fully understood until I really took this deep dive? The first thing was the total darkness from noon until three o'clock. Not a natural time for the earth to be dark. What do you think about that?

Angel 19:09

I appreciated your survey. What you had written about that as an artist, I, think visually and that darkness and

Laurie 19:19

I.

Angel 19:19

is a concept that I think about about often. And so as I tried to get my head around that, I was thinking that Jesus is the perfect mix of fully God and fully man. He's a combination of the physical and the spiritual, and Jesus made the heavens and the earth. A verse about that, John one three. It tells us for him, by all things were created, both in the heavens, and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians one, 16. to me it seems that part of the darkness was God saying, or more likely showing. you reject Jesus the light of the world, I will let you physically experience the light of your world going out. It is one thing to know something intellectually. It is quite another to experience it, and God is an experiential God. He wants us to know him. That is why he came in the flesh for us to experience him. the darkness was a cosmic, natural, yet temporary consequence of a loving and grieving God.

Laurie 20:42

Yeah, and I think. In conjunction with a lot of the other topics that we're gonna talk about that I read in the essay, I think God was saying, Hey, people take notice. This is not just an average Roman crucifixion. This one's different. This one's special. And it started with an eclipse of the sun in the middle of the day. Yes. So one thing that has been talked about ever since the day of Jesus's crucifixion is when he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? In my essay, I share some analysis on what led Jesus to say that. And it wasn't because he was afraid to face the physical pain and agony of his own death. What are your thoughts about this?

Angel 21:42

Yeah, Lori, my thought was, why did you pick this topic for me? I have to admit that I was intensely intimidated. A sense of what business do I have talking about something like this. Through the years I've joked about this, I've come to normalize something. It's like between the saying yes of something, meaning something important, something I feel like God's called me to do, and the actual completion of the thing comes this thought, what the heck was I thinking? So

Laurie 22:14

I'm sorry to put you through that agony.

Angel 22:17

So I was there with this, but I've also learned to normalize that and then wait. And so that is the cool part of waiting on God. you asked me to do this topic, it was months ago, I think. Since then, I finished inductively studying the book of Matthew. the end of Matthew, the study pointed me to Psalm 22, is where the phrase, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That's where it comes from. So what I'm saying is, when I recently reread your essay and saw that you were quoting from Matthew in Psalm 22, I felt overwhelmed by God's goodness. He went before me to prepare me. Not as an expert, but as a fellow Sojourner looking for my Lord the middle of his suffering. And Hebrews tells us that we have a high priest who identifies with our suffering and has experienced what we have experienced. And I believe one of the greatest of human sufferings is abandonment. Within the experience of abandonment is a temptation to doubt God's goodness provision and loving kindness. of us have experienced abandonment in some form, whether large or small, I've been healing from abandonment issues since childhood. So with that filter, Lori. When I hear Jesus crying out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? think of the suffering servant who surrendered to take the cup of wrath, guilt, shame, judgment, everything unbeautiful and everything tainted on my behalf. I believe God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have always shared unbroken fellowship. Even on the cross, the Father was right there with Jesus and is suffering. The suffering was so great that as with my suffering, God can sometimes feel distant. Sometimes God feels like he tarries. Sometimes it feels like he does not care, but he is near. He is present. is never late and he cared enough to send his son to the cross to prove it. as you mentioned, a Psalm 22 would've been a well-known among the Jewish people around the cross. was fulfilling prophecy. trying God knew what they were doing from the very beginning before they ever put hands to mud to make men. They had a plan. I found it interesting at the end of Psalm 2231. You didn't mention this one, but, Psalm 2231 says, they will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn for he has done it, is a form of it is finished and we find that a couple times in the gospels, Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said, father, into your hands, I command my spirit. Having said this, he breathed his last, and that's from Luke 2346, and then John 1930 says it is finished. So that phrase, no matter its form, was fulfilling prophecy and is a glorious declaration that everything is gonna be right again.

Laurie 25:38

Yeah, there was a lot of planning and fulfilling

Angel 25:45

Yes.

Laurie 25:46

one event. It wasn't just a random, Hey, he got arrested. By the Roman Guard and the Jews were calling for him to be crucified and okay, let's do it. To get you off our back. It may sound like it was led by humans, but all these details and everything you just brought up makes us realize that it's not, it was thought of and planned way, way, way before, and God. Wanted to use that event, to really drive home the concept that he is in charge. He always was in charge. He always will be. And that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were right there with him all along.

Angel 26:36

Yeah.

Laurie 26:37

Jesus wasn't a victim of, the humans that took. Took him to the cross. And when you think about it that way, it's just, I mean, it's absolutely amazing, you know?

Angel 26:49

and interesting, we're just a little past Ash Wednesday and we're heading into Good Friday, so I think it's beautiful that this will be coming out soon and,

Laurie 26:58

Yes.

Angel 26:59

it's just marvelous to reflect on all that went into it and how much he loved us. And I think the more you study it, the more you are just taken aback because of how intricate and how intentional God was with all of these details,

Laurie 27:21

Yeah. And that is definitely the heart of this essay that okay. You know, you read about the crucifixion and oh boy, it must have been awful. And like we talked about Palm Sunday a couple episodes ago, and everything was so happy and joyful and celebration. Hosanna the rocks themselves would sing if we, stopped the people from, crying out. And I always, as a young person was like, what? Why did it end there? Why did the story end there when it was happy? Why did we have to go into this horrible, horrible thing, but that would not have. Ended, the plan. I mean, Jesus had to have died and he had to have resurrected in order for us to be saved and to have this movement of Christianity thousands of years later. I mean, it was all in God's plan. And that's what the good and the bad, the beautiful and the painful, the everything. I mean, it's just. Yeah, someone should make a movie.

Angel 28:30

Ah, yes, the miraculous. Yeah.

Laurie 28:35

That's right. So I was saying about, God the Father was evident in every detail of Jesus's crucifixion details, such as the curtain of the temple being torn from top to bottom,

Angel 28:51

Yeah.

Laurie 28:52

and the location of the curtain, and who was permitted to pass through it. God's plan was, top to bottom. It was him who tore the curtain to allow us the ability to now connect with him. The curtain was in the room of the holiest of holies, meaning only one person could get in there. The, priest that had the responsibility, that Passover, just so detailed. An earthquake. during the crucifixion, the bodies of holy people buried nearby that were raised to life.

Angel 29:28

Yeah, it's crazy.

Laurie 29:31

Oh, so many plot points. I tell you, God was sending a message that only he could have sent as the the supreme ruler of the universe. What do you think that the witnesses nearby as they were observing all this stuff, what did they make of all these miraculous reactions to Jesus' Death.

Angel 29:56

Yeah. I wanna linger on that curtain being torn that.

Laurie 30:01

good.

Angel 30:01

That one there is, I mean, it's all miraculous, but the curtain being torn. we have to go back all the way to the beginning, so just stay with me

Laurie 30:11

Okay.

Angel 30:11

But in, in the beginning, God created humanity to dwell with him. The garden then God made covenant. Actually, several covenants, man, broke covenant and we call the New Testament, the new covenant sometimes. But what is covenant Exodus 34, 10? It says, the Lord said, I am making a covenant with you and in Hebrew, the language. The phrase is, I'm gonna spell it and then try to say it. I have a lazy tongue, so just, bear with me. But it's K-A-R-A-T. B-E-R-I-T carat Barrett. It literally

Laurie 30:53

Okay.

Angel 30:53

cut a covenant. ancient times, animals were cut in two and the parties walked between the pieces symbolizing a binding or a life or death agreement. So cutting those animals in two was part of that covenant. When God made a covenant with Abram. Who was later to be called Abraham, he put Abram into a sleep and passed through the pieces himself. God took the responsibility for both parts of that covenant. So when mankind broke covenant again, Jesus stepped in and on the cross, Jesus became the fulfillment of that covenant, the sacrifice, the lamb. His body was torn like the animals of old, at the very moment, his body was broken. temple curtain was torn. Hebrews 10, 19 20 tells us. That we now have the confidence to inner that most holy place by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain. And it says that is his body. It says it right there in black and white. When I first read this, I was stunned that it said the torn curtain equated. Christ torn body, of like the animals who had been split in half. the torn curtain was not just a miracle, it was a declaration. It was a way back to God had been opened for us. So God created man to dwell with him. made a way back to him, and if we follow that thread all the way to Revelation 21, we see God's plan completed. There is a new heaven and a new Earth, and God dwelling with his people. I wanna read that verse. Look, God's dwelling is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. That's covenant language. You hear that in Ruth, like, where you go, I go, your people will be my people. That is covenant language. God's desire has always been to dwell with humanity. From Eden to the covenants, to the cross, to the new creation. He has done everything necessary to bring us home to dwell once again with him. When I think about that curtain being torn, and like you said, from top to bottom, and also they said it was like the thickness of a man's hand, like the heel of his hand. It was super thick and what it would've taken to tear that, and all that it means. And, oh gosh, Lori, there's so much on covenant. This is so beautiful. But I think about, covenants, there's a greater and a lesser party, and the lesser party would enter in because they would benefit and the greater party would protect them. And when God made that covenant with mankind, we couldn't keep it. And God kept the covenant and Jesus took the weaker party and paid the penalty of death. And I didn't really understand like, okay, why did Jesus have to die? Right? We, God

Laurie 34:10

Yeah.

Angel 34:10

it any number of ways, but when I studied covenant all the way through, of a sudden that intentionality came out. profoundly what Jesus did for us. And, when we get the benefits of, having that unbroken relationship and to, like right now have the privilege of dwelling with God, because of what Christ did on the cross. It's a daily thing and that's why I love abiding too, because, dwell, abide, abode home, you know, dwell with God and abide with God. Yeah, so you can tell I get pretty excited about that stuff.

Laurie 34:50

It all ties together. You look at the Bible and what is it, several thousand pages long and yeah, I will say there is a lot like my son is. He borrowed my chronological bible that I did the year I read the Bible project with. When I read through it, he's now reading it. He told me yesterday, oh, I got caught up. He goes, I was behind already, but I got caught up. He goes, but boy, Exodus and Leviticus are pretty dry.

Angel 35:19

Yes, yes.

Laurie 35:21

that. And yeah, so there's a lot of dryness in there, or a lot of, I guess, excess. But when you boil down, there's a reason. It all ties in. It's all the same story, the continuation, the Old Testament, the New Testament and revelation. I mean, it's a beautifully, beautifully planned, Story life. I mean, God knows what he's doing and, the more you dig into it and study it, the more amazing it is. When you have a revelation of your own, like, oh my gosh, that goes back to that. And that ties into that, you know?

Angel 36:01

Yeah. And it's fun. The more you, study it. And I've loved studying groups because we see things differently. Then you're reading something and you're like, oh my gosh, that's what it was talking about way back then. Things start to tie together and they, become that fabric. And then they're not quite so foreign. Things become familiar and they start to make more sense. And it's also humbling because the more you know, the more you realize you don't know one of those sort of things too.

Laurie 36:30

Yes. That's right. Well, and you can read the Bible all the way through. Of course, you're not gonna get it all. You're not gonna understand it all. You can read it through a second time and learn something completely different, and then you build, you build on your knowledge. It's like, okay, the last time I read the Bibles. Cover to cover. I didn't get this or that, or now when I read it through again, it'll be a, higher starting point because I have learned so much from, this whole project.

Angel 37:02

Yeah, absolutely true.

Laurie 37:05

One of the, Roman guards who were there at the crucifixion, he was, helping to man the, crucifixions that day

Angel 37:13

Mm-hmm.

Laurie 37:14

looked at g when, you know, all these miracles were taking place. He said he must truly be the son of God.

Angel 37:20

Yes.

Laurie 37:22

I just wonder how many other people, I think the crucifixions happened every Friday. In that time and age and location, and I think people came and watched it as if it were entertainment, you know,

Angel 37:38

Yeah.

Laurie 37:39

Just like the lions later, the lions, killing the Christians in the auditorium there. But,

Angel 37:45

Yeah.

Laurie 37:47

but I just wonder how many people

Angel 37:51

Mm-hmm.

Laurie 37:51

that day accepted Jesus because of what had happened at the crucifixion.

Angel 37:58

Yeah. I don't know, but I agree with you. I think that there was stuff happening and there was spiritual stuff happening, and God was. Making it evident that there was something beyond a human earthly, crucifixion. There was something more going on and that, yeah, he brought the supernatural into it. Like I said, Jesus was, he's the perfect man and fully God,

Laurie 38:30

Yeah.

Angel 38:30

so bringing those. Realms together. It's almost like how could it not affect the atmosphere? Right?

Laurie 38:39

Right, right. Well, you mentioned that. When I first gave you this topic to talk to me about, you were a little bit nervous, but boy, you really gave us so much to think about. So many wonderful things to go back and listen to again and really think about. Is there any last thoughts you might wanna share about this topic of Jesus's crucifixion?

Angel 39:08

I guess because I'm reading something right now called the Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. He talks about how we can either say that the cross happened to save us for a sin, kind of like, sin management or fire insurance so that we go to heaven or we can look at it that, we are to love people and make the world a better place. And, either situation that God is not really in us right now. Bottom line is. went on the cross to save us for himself to be a people group, to live with him, to dwell with him now, to be transformed into his likeness. Now, we are never gonna be perfect until we get to heaven, but he wants to be intimately involved in our daily life. Right now. And so when we see the cross, it's not the end of a story and we're just gonna hang in as this earth is like shaking right now. We're not just gonna hang in until we put our head on the pillow or we, you know, we run into a tree or whatever, you know that, that we die and then we wake up in heaven and everything's okay. He wants to live with us right now where we are, to have us, invite him into our everyday circumstances. And so when I see the cross. As this horrific instrument, of torture, also see the goodness of God because he wanted to be with me. He wants to be with us now. so that's, maybe it's more of an admonition that we wouldn't, overlook the whole part of the good news of Jesus Christ that it is. For living our life right now. And it makes a difference.

Laurie 41:07

it sure does. It sure does. That's beautiful. Well, I wanna thank you again for visiting with us and sharing your knowledge and your insight. You definitely are a deep thinker that is very obvious from talking to you the last two weeks,

Angel 41:26

Thank

Laurie 41:27

and you have a be. You have an artist's mind. That's right. You have given us so much to think about and I wanna wish you a very happy Easter upcoming. And, you mentioned on, the last episode when you introduced yourself that your husband, Tony, and I used to work together. I forgot to mention last week, tell him I said hi. I've been thinking a lot about him. I know he has some exciting things coming up career wise and retirement. Yeah, that's the most exciting career thing.

Angel 42:00

Yeah. Yeah, he really, he enjoyed you as a boss and we talked a little bit last time about it, but just, I look at this as a perfect example of abiding that, you know, God knew all that time ago when Tony worked for you, that someday we were gonna do ministry together and.

Laurie 42:18

And that's something,

Angel 42:19

passion of John 15. And then you went from writing, Christian romance novels to deciding that you wanted to investigate the Bible more, and all of a sudden I

Laurie 42:29

yeah.

Angel 42:30

Hey. And that's when I sent you an email or something saying, well, if you, if you end up on John 15, I have artwork. I'm excited about that. And that was before you were, even gonna do podcasts. So, you know,

Laurie 42:43

Right. Yeah.

Angel 42:45

book, you've, you've recorded them and now you're actually doing a podcast. But

Laurie 42:50

Yeah.

Angel 42:50

that's just a perfect example of abiding when we rested in Christ just along our little path where God's been planting us. And then he brought it together for us to bring our passions together and. Please. Fruit. More fruit. Much fruit. So go back and listen to last, episode about abiding,

Laurie 43:09

that's right. A little, reminder about last week. In case you missed it, go back and listen.

Angel 43:14

Yeah,

Laurie 43:16

All right. Well thank you so much Angel. I really appreciate your time and I guess we will close it right there.

Angel 43:23

sounds good. It's been super fun.

Laurie 43:25

It has been fun. Thank you. I.

Speaker 2 43:30

and that's it for today. Thank you very much for being here with me on the year I read the Bible Podcast. We'll be back with another episode next week. If you enjoy this podcast, please do all the normal things to spread the word like it. Review it, share it with your friends. If you are interested in additional the year, I read the Bible resources such as the book, the video channel, and the blog, I will certainly include the links in the show notes, and I'd love to hear about your own journey to read the Bible cover to cover. Have you done it or are you doing it right now? Please reach out to me and let me know how it's going. Until next time, it's Lori Larson with the year I read the Bible. Bye.