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‘“They pierced my hands and my feet,” was used in reference to the nails of the cross which were driven into His hands and feet. “And. . . they cast lots for His clothes, and after they crucified Him distributed it among them.” And that these things did happen, you can ascertain from the Acts of Pontius Pilate. First Apology 35. Jesus was not an ordinary man. That is the testimony of history. He was God in human flesh.
Why He Came. But why did He come to earth? Why did God take on human
flesh? Did He come to raise a family or conquer Rome? Why did He come? His apostles, the men who knew Him well,
tell us why He came. In the years that followed, Jesus’ apostles died for Him because they believed in
Him. We possess records about Jesus from Cornelius Tacticus (A.D. 55-120), who has been called the greatest
historian on ancient Rome; Hadrian, who was an emperor of Rome in A.D. 76-138; Mara Bar-Serapion, who was a
Syrian living at least 73 years after Jesus Christ; Phlegon, a historian who lived in the first century; Gaius
Plinius Caecilius Secundus (A.D. 61-112), or Pliny the Younger, who was the governor of Bithynia (A.D. 112)
and a Roman senator, Gaius Suetonius Tranquilla, who was a Roman historian (A.D. 117-138); Thallus (circa A.D.
52), who wrote a history about the middle east from the time of the Trojan War to his own time; and Trajan,
who was emperor of Rome in A.D. 53 - 117. The testimony is loud and clear. Why would secular writers have written
what they did? The answer is simple. They recorded what was true. Jesus existed, taught, and healed people.
But why did He come?
1. Romans 5:6-9 has the answer to our question. What is it about?
 2. Of the three types of people described in Rom. 5:6-9, for whom would you be willing
to die? For whom did He die?
3. Why was God willing to die for us (Rom. 5:8)?
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