Author. Speaker. Communicator.

Dr. Curtis Alexander

Curtis and Kathy, Fort Knox, KY (1975)
(R) My Queen and our three Princesses (Honolulu, 1978)
Pretty Woman (1994)

ANGEL FOOD Devotional for busy Christians

April 5
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did
not open his mouth (Isaiah 53:7).
A musician named Ray Overholt once came to our church, when I was a teenager. He had composed a popular Christian song, “He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels.” The song highlights how Jesus made a conscious decision to keep silent when He was crucified. He had a whole army of angels to protect Him, but He died an unspeakable death because He knew and chose to fulfill His purpose for coming to earth: rescuing humanity from eternal punishment for our sins. Would His self–defense have saved His physical life? Nobody knows. But His silence was a sure death–sentence. He knew that, yet stood mute while His enemies plotted
His murder. You were on His mind.
This prophecy is called “the Suffering Servant.” He could’ve defended Himself and maybe saved His earthly life. He chose instead to die silently out of love for His followers,
then and now. Servant indeed!April 4
They divide my clothes among them and cast
lots for my garment (Psalm 22:18).
One convincing piece of evidence for Jesus’s divinity was how His earthly life fulfilled so many prophecies throughout the Bible. A general estimate is that Jesus fulfilled about 300 prophecies during His earthly lifetime. These prophecies were given hundreds of years before He was born in Bethlehem. Prophecies are a major dividing line between Christians and Jews, most of whom deny that Jesus was the Promised One. That’s especially because the
New Testament presents Him as God the Son.
David wrote several prophecies about Jesus in Psalm 22, a thousand years before He was born. That couldn’t happen unless God was divinely inspiring the prophets. It’s one more puzzle piece that reveals the genuine nature of Jesus. These little clues are throughout the Bible. They can strengthen your faith.April 3
Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet (Psalm 22:16).
What terrible physical agony accompanied crucifixion—human pain that defies description. A crude form of crucifixion was developed by the Assyrians; ultimately, the Romans perfected it. The dirty secret of crucifixion is that the prisoner died of asphyxiation. The nails through hands and feet caused intense suffering, yes. But hanging on that cross, the lungs fought for air. The prisoner would raise himself up by his legs to give the chest cavity room for air exchange. Eventually, he was too weak to raise himself,
and died from lack of oxygen.
Today’s Scripture reading was first written by David, and Jesus quoted it extensively as it related to His physical death. During Easter season, it’s easy to forget that Jesus endured such physical, emotional and spiritual agony, taking our sins, because He loves us so much, and wants to offer eternal life. The only appropriate response is love in return, and gratitude overflowing.