Unlike all those who suffered a brutal and premature end by being strung up on a cross, where they were all attached to their crosses “with ropes”, Jesus had the distinction of being attached to His cross “with nails”. And as with the pattern of Jesus, His life always modelled, and still models, a new standard. Everything about Jesus raises the bar on everything we may have previously regarded as the pattern for life and living.

Having said that, we also know that in line with the immense intentionality that is always demonstrated in everything the Father has ever written or done throughout creation and history, the question remains one of why Jesus was crucified with nails when all of history had successfully demonstrated that ropes were more than adequate for the task? Ropes had never failed before. So was this just a once-off random act of immense cruelty? Was it simply a desire to inflict as much bodily pain as the human body could possibly endure? Was it merely an exclamation mark on the ferocity of humanity’s chagrin and ire towards the Son of Man? Or was there yet an even more intentional, deeper purpose for God and message to mankind behind a deliberate use of nails?

The answer is likely to be all of the above. But from what we have learned from the word of God and history is that God is and always has been in complete control of everything. Which patterns complete and deliberate intentionality. This pattern vividly demonstrates that there is absolutely nothing random in the choice of nails as the final instrument used to attach Jesus to the cross and everything intentional in it. In John 3:16, together with the timing of Jesus’ death, we see the vivid evidence of God being intentional and in total control of all things, not just what is written, but what transpires throughout history. For in John 3:16 it is “WRITTEN”, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” And yet at 3:16 PM, Jesus also “DEMONSTRATED” that great love for all humanity. What are the odds that the precise chapter and verse that speak of His great sacrifice are completely identical to the exact time that He then also made that great sacrifice, unless every thing both written and that takes place in history is completely controlled by the hand of God?

In Isaiah 22:23-24, it refers to Jesus being a nail in a sure place. “I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers.”‭‭ In other words, being a nail in a sure place, means that anything that hangs on this nail will likewise be held safely and securely by that same nail in that very same sure place. For it is a nail that is therefore immovable, unshakable and unbreakable.

In this same scripture, it is written that all the offspring and posterity (all descendants and future generations) together with the glory of the Father’s house, will all hang on this same nail. So not only is it therefore true that the soul that then hangs on this nail is thus entirely incapable of falling to the ground, but it is likewise true that neither can any concern or petition that through faith also hangs on this nail, then fall to the ground either. Our concerns and petitions are all in a very safe spot. For they all hang on a peg that is fastened in a very secure place. Isaiah says that on this nail shall hang all the vessels of glory for the Father’s house, being those vessels of small quantity, from the cups to the pitchers. And when it comes to those vessels, whether cups or pitchers, in the gospel of Luke, Jesus describes himself as the new wine of the new covenant. Which is why the vessels for the new wine that shall hang on that nail are also a “new creation”. For new wine cannot go into old wine skins. And by reference, whilst the Pharisees believed the old wine was better, Jesus was shaking the tree of tradition by replacing the old wine (old covenant) with a new wine (new covenant). Which is to replace it with something better. For is it not written that the glory of the latter house shall be greater than the former (Haggai 2:9)? And what is a house but a secure place for visitation and habitation? Instead of dwelling “WITH” men (as an operation of visitation), the better wine of the new covenant is the promise that He will come to dwell “IN” men (as an operation of habitation). And as such men would be one with Him just like He and the Father are one. Which is a much better wine than the old wine of simple visitation.

Whereas ropes represent “a looser attachment” that can be untied if required, they also represent the old covenant of the loose attachment of “visitation”. For by definition, visitation means one can and will leave at some point. The attachment is loose. It can be untied. Which is exactly what Jesus did with His first coming. He came to visit for a while and then returned to His Father’s house. With the new wine that is the new covenant of God coming to dwell “IN” the vessel of man, be that vessel a cup or a pitcher, Jesus has provided for a more sure thing where He will never leave. For is it not written that He will never leave us or forsake us? Which is depicted by His being forcibly attached to the cross with nails. Compared with ropes, nails are a much more certain and sure attachment. What this also says is that the new covenant is also only available through the cross. By man hanging on the nail of the sure place in the cross, Jesus is providing mankind with a more sure and certain way of being one with God, a way that entirely surpasses and supersedes the former glory of visitation. And this is the greater glory and intimacy and fellowship of pegging man to God through the covenant of continuous and permanent habitation.

“I will clothe him with your robe And strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (spiritual Israel) And to the house of Judah (physical Israel). The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open.”‭‭ (Isaiah‬ ‭22:21-22‬). Hanging on the sure nail of Jesus is a door that once opened cannot be shut. For this nail has been given the key of David. Which is all authority and power in heaven and on earth. On the other hand, choosing to not hang oneself on the nail of Jesus is likewise a door that when it soon one day shuts, cannot then be reopened. Both scenarios are thus the outcome of a nail pegged in a sure place, being a nail that secures not only a certain eventuality, but also a secure outcome. “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6).

With the first coming, Jesus eventually left, and returned to His Father’s house (place of habitation), which speaks of the time of the former glory of the dispensation of “visitation”. For that time is the former glory that has now since passed. However, when the King soon returns, this will usher in the greater glory of the latter dispensation of “habitation”, for He shall remain and make His dwelling amongst men. For such is a time that is yet still to come. It is a latter time. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place 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.” (Revelation 21:3). Which will be that great occasion from Isaiah 22:21 when He shall be a Father to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, His “city of habitation”.

Oh truly, far better is the end of a matter than its beginning. Far better is the new wine than the old. Far better is the latter glory of the house of “habitation” than the former glory of the house of “visitation”. For our cup or pitcher shall not only always be full, but it shall be a cup that shall also always overflow.

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be all the honour and all the glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:17).

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