Recently the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to something I had never seen before. What was our Heavenly Father’s emotional response to the cruel torture and crucifixion of His dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ?

In the last 20 years or more, Mandy and I have often been involved in visiting and counselling thousands of people
(mostly farmers) who have suffered terrible trauma in one way or another. We have witnessed the bitter tears of deep emotions as we have listened to heart-wrenching stories of people who have been cruelly attacked in their homes, terribly beaten, had their possessions stolen or deliberately destroyed, houses ransacked or burnt down, farms sabotaged, animals maliciously and irrationally killed or maimed. We have tried to understand and comfort people whose dearly beloved family members have been viciously murdered, and we have seen devastated children standing by the open grave of their father who had suffered deep depression as a result of the unfairness of what life has dealt to him and had finally committed suicide.

These are all things which cause deep emotions and bitter tears. The thoughts of taking vengeance run through their minds, and the never-ending questions, why, why WHY?!!! So, as we were contemplating the crucifixion of Christ, the Holy Spirit awakened in me the thought, “What about the HeavenlyFather’s emotions as He observed the terrible suffering of His own dearly beloved Son at the hands of cruel people because of my sins – all our sins?” Let us go through the story with a view to considering the emotions involved.