Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 (NIV)
Various Laws
22 If someone guilty of a capital offense is put to death and their body is exposed on a pole, 23 you must not leave the body hanging on the pole overnight. Be sure to bury it that same day, because anyone who is hung on a pole is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
This is a verse that we also hear during Holy Week, the week before Easter. Paul is pulling out all the stops with the Galatian people:
‘Christ wasn’t just crucified, he was cursed. How do I know?’ Paul might say, ‘because, in Deuteronomy, we are told that anyone hung on a tree is cursed’. Christ was not just crucified unjustly, but he was cursed. This was not because of anything that he had done, but he carried this curse for our sake. Christ was cursed for our sins. Because of what Christ did on the cross, you and I are not punished for our sin. Paul makes this point so fervently because it is so important. I invite you to consider the fact that Christ paid the price for your salvation. Consider the great gift this is. Consider the freedom and grace you have been given. How does this impact your day today?