Pilate scourged Jesus before he delivered Him to be crucified, so we need to understand what it meant to be scourged. Pilate had not found any problem with Jesus and wanted to release Him, but succumbed to political and probably to financial pressure and issued the order. The word Scourged is the Greek word Phragello.
It is horrific to say the least. Religion and religious art has not honestly portrayed the events of what we now call Easter.
What happened was one of the most sadistic, cruel and animalistic forms of punishment meted out by the Romans.
Scourging was considered to be one of their most feared and deadly weapons. It was so ghastly that the mere threat of scourging could control people. It could calm a crowd, bend the will of the strongest rebel or cause the most hardened criminal to cringe in fear.
Religious art reveals Jesus modestly covered with a loincloth, with a few cuts across His body but this is far from the truth.
The victim was stripped completely naked and bound to the whipping post. Being stripped caused shame enough but the anticipation of the first blow was worse. It caused the victim’s body to grow rigid, the muscles to knot in his stomach and the color to drain from his cheeks.
The scourging post was approximately two feet or 600 mm high to which a metal ring was fixed. The victim’s hands were tied over his head and his wrists were securely shackled to the metal ring to restrain his body from possible movement.
The scourge itself consisted of a short, wooden handle to which were affixed several 18 to 24 inch (500 to 600 mm) long straps of leather. Sharp objects like pieces of metal or bone were attached to the ends of the thongs.
Two men often engaged in the scourging process. They were sadists took great delight in torturing the victim, whilst standing on either side of the victim to strike so hard that the thongs lashed the entire back and wrapped around the body, cutting deeply thorough the skin, into the flesh and shredded everything in the process.
This way, the thongs also covered the entire torso, which meant that the chest and stomach were also lacerated.
The torturers often jerked backward to tear whole pieces of flesh from the body, with the result that the victim’s back, buttocks, chest, stomach, the back of the legs and even the face would soon be slashed.
Historical records describe a victim’s back as being so mutilated after a Roman scourging that his spine was sometimes exposed. Others recorded how the bowels of a victim would actually spill out through the open wounds created by the whip.
The early Church historian Eusebius said-
The veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure. During the scourging, blood vessels were cut open so much that the victim would experience profuse loss of blood and bodily fluids. Because the body started bleeding profusely, the heart started pumping harder, and so blood gushed uncontrollably through the opened vessels. This loss of blood caused the victim’s blood pressure to drop drastically. The massive loss of bodily fluids induced an intense almost uncontrollable and painful thirst. Fainting from the pain, going into shock and such irregular heartbeat often causing cardiac arrest often happened.
The Jews were permitted by Law according to Deuteronomy 25:3 to give forty lashes to a victim, but because the fortieth lash usually proved fatal, the number of lashes given was reduced to thirty-nine. See 2 Corinthians 11:24. I previously shared a picture of a Jewish Passover Seder where Matzos could be seen. This is often specially baked and is striped and perforated.
I have been told that there are 39 such stripes and perforations, but cannot verify this. I have also been told that there are 39 main categories of diseases, but again cannot verify this. Nevertheless, the pattern is there.
Whilst Jews forbade such punishment to exceed 39 lashes, the Romans had no limitations. It is possible therefore that Jesus may have had more than forty lashes across His body. This may explain the additional outrage the Jews displayed towards Jesus.
Little wonder therefore the prophecies said that Jesus would be almost unrecognizable as a human being.
Isaiah 52:14 says-
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.
Psalm 129:3 therefore takes on deep significance, but we must remember that this scourging was but the beginning.
This scourging was only the preparation for Jesus’ crucifixion! Matthew 27:26 says that he then delivered Jesus to be crucified.
It was at a place called Golgotha. This word has a Hebrew origin—gulgōlet. It means something round—like a skull, but, watch this—it is also the root of the word Galilee. Wow! Jesus spent a lot of time in Galilee. That cannot be a coincidence.
One meaning describes a round white rock that resembles a human head. You might see the shape in the picture that is supposedly the place where Jesus was crucified. This was the hill of crucifixion that was used by the Romans and one must ask why they chose such a place. Was it a matter of convenience? Did they deliberately pick it or were they “influenced” by God to use that place to fit in with His plan that had been formulated before the Roman empire was ever created? Unwittingly perhaps, they, Judas and the devil were all doing precisely what God wanted to bring us salvation. Peter said:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Acts 2:23
I would like you to look at a few key words in this verse, starting with determinate. In the Greek it is horizō meaning that at some previous time, God had appointed, declared, determined and ordained it to happen at His set time. The word counsel is boulē and it talks about purpose and intent. Foreknowledge is prognōsis. This means that God knew in advance, and planned for it to happen just as He wanted it and made sure it happened that way. There is more to it than that of course, but I have hopefully painted the picture for you that our salvation and relationship with God had been meticulously planned before the dawn of time. Calvary was when God “made it happen”.
When Jesus was taken up that rugged hill and nailed to the cross, it was as I have touched on already—the place of the skull that is just a rock formation—a smooth, rounded rock that “just happens” to look like a human skull. If it is such a rock formation, stop for a moment to ask when that rock formation was formed. How old is it? When God picked up a lump of clay and squeezed it in his hand to form a ball and call it the planet earth—He made that rock! But wait...there’s more!
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; Numbers 1:1-2
You might wonder what that has to do with Easter. The Hebrew word for polls is golgoleth. It means “by their skulls”.
This was the best and most basic way to count people—head by head.
This indicates that Jesus’ redemptive death on the cross at the place of the skull provided salvation for every individual human who will ever live. It was as if God did a head count when He made the place of the skull, but still gave us freedom to make the choice. He knew how many people would accept this free gift that God had offered us and when we were added to this count, our names were added to the Lamb’s Book of Life...but then God knew we would.
What amazing love.
The Romans scourged Jesus mercilessly and it was not a pretty sight. It was a gruesome and a sickening sight, when all the hatred, spite and venom of the devil was unleashed at him through human agents. No man has ever suffered as this man suffered.
The bible says that he was spat upon, kicked and beaten and then scourged. He was so marred and disfigured... so wounded, bruised and battered to a pulp, with split lips, blackened eyes, great lumps of his hair torn from his face and his head and so savagely whipped, his back was torn to shreds so extensively that he was almost unrecognizable as a human.
What was the reason for these horrible inflictions? Was it just for some men’s’ sadistic and barbaric pleasure, or was there an ulterior motive?
Religious tradition and religious art has not always presented the truth, sometimes portraying Calvary as some form of noble act. To some extent it may have been noble, but the reality is vastly different.
Jesus is often pictured hanging there modestly covered with a loin cloth, a crown of thorns perched lightly on his head and a few marks on his body caused by whipping, but that is not correct. He was stripped stark naked and open to public gaze and ridicule as this was and still is a gross act of inflicting shame and disgrace on the victim.
The crown of thorns was rammed on his head tearing his scalp open. It has been said that the crown of thorns was plaited from what was called the Snake Vine, as the sap caused excruciating agony and made the face swell horribly. His back was torn to shreds, some commentators suggesting that many of the wounds not only tore great lumps of flesh from his body, but opened him up to the bone in places. Again, I ask a question, “Why”?
The word scourge is equivalent to the Italian word Scoriada, taken from two Latin words, Excoriare, which means to flay and the other is Corium, which means skin. A scourge is a multi-thong whip or lash, designed primarily to inflict corporal punishment. The typical scourge in Latin is Flagrum and in the English is Flagellum and has several thongs fastened to a handle. The scourge, or flail and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of Osiris Egyptian monuments and it seems that the flail depicted in Egyptian mythology was an agricultural instrument used to thresh wheat and not for corporal punishment.
In 1 Kings 12:11 which says My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions, the word scorpio (scorpion) is the Latin word for a Roman Flagrum. Hard material was affixed to multiple thongs to give a flesh-tearing ‘bite’.
The name testifies to the pain caused by the Arachnid, which is the family of scorpions, spiders and other eight-legged creatures, most of which can inflict painful, if not deadly bites.
We may wonder why this seemed so severe—so cruel or sadistic. Under the Law, certain judgments were made regarding miscarriage of justice and offenses made against other people. For example-
If men contend with each other, and a pregnant woman [interfering] is hurt so that she has a miscarriage, yet no further damage follows, [the one who hurt her] shall surely be punished with a fine [paid] to the woman’s husband, as much as the judges determine. But if any damage follows, then you shall give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burn for burn, wound for wound, and lash for lash. Exodus 21:22-25.
Deuteronomy 25:1-3 states-
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Let me suggest to you that someone was offended and that controversy did exist between two parties—God and man.
Because of what we call original sin, the righteousness of God was violated and someone had to pay the price and the punishment was death. The results are poverty and sickness. This is not what God wants however, but the righteous Judge had passed sentence that had to be fulfilled to satisfy judgment.
God provided a substitute, His Son, Jesus Christ. Several matters had to be addressed and the full price paid. They were the sin issue, which was dealt with on the Cross when Jesus died in our stead, because of disobedience.
I said disobedience for a purpose and ask you to consider who or what was cursed? This could startle you. I always thought that Adam was cursed, but that might not be so. It seems that the serpent was cursed—but Adam was punished.
Adonai, God, said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. Genesis 3:14 (emphasis mine)
It is true that there is a curse and it is equally true that Jesus redeemed us from that curse, but what is this curse?
No one knew it was a sin until it was told them. You do not know if you are breaking the law of the land if you do not know that such a law exists. When we were in Liberia, our hosts were amazed when we told them about our speed limits when driving a car. They had no such law. How do you know if it is wrong (or a sin) to do a certain thing or neglect to do it unless you are told it is? We have what we call conscience of course, but if we do not know—we just do not know.
God gave Moses His Law to tell them (and us) that such a thing is sin.
It was this Law that produced the curse. It acted like a schoolmaster, continually correcting us and putting us under condemnation because no human being could keep it. Only Jesus could do that. God gave Moses the Law as a temporary measure until the Lord came so that when someone sinned, they could do something about it.
This was the curse from which Jesus released us. He became that curse. Legalism in the church and an attempt to revert to The Law is an affront to God. For more information, see Deuteronomy 27:6, 29:21; Joshua 8:34; Nehemiah 10:29; Daniel 9:11; Galatians 3:10-13. Many of our faith doctrines, especially the prosperity doctrines are only half right! There are more curses in Deuteronomy than there are blessings.
As time seems to be racing away and we are getting closer to the end of this age, we must see and understand truth, nothing else. To fully satisfy the demands of righteous judgment in every aspect, Jesus had to become a substitute for everything.
Someone had to pay the price and the payment for sickness and disease was this punishment that was inflicted by way of beating. Psalm 89:19-37 touches on this.
Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.
Isaiah 53 reveals how this was fulfilled.
Who has believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed? For [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him. Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living [stricken to His death] for the transgression of my [Isaiah’s] people, to whom the stroke was due? And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick.
When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord]. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious). Isaiah 53:1-12 (emphasis mine).
Isaiah revealed that it would be God... who afflicted Jesus. He did that for you. He used the Jewish religious leaders (not the ordinary people) and the Roman as a tool to achieve this.
Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him.
When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you.
You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives. 1 Peter 2:22-25.
This is why Jesus was beaten so savagely. Every time that scourge hit Him, God dealt with the source of sickness and disease.
It is said that the number of stripes that tore Jesus’ flesh apart represented the same number of disease groups that afflict us.
As the whip came down, cancers were dealt with. When the whip struck again the legal precedents were established to heal every form of blindness. The next time the lash hit Him every muscular disease no longer had legal hold over us. I could continue with more illustrations but this paints the picture.
When the Psalm writer said Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back (Psalm 129:3), it was as if Jesus was thinking of you...
There is so much more I could share about the events of the cross. Why was an innocent man compelled to carry Jesus’ cross?
Why did He cry out “I thirst” and was given vinegar. The cross we often see in religious art and Hollywood movies might not have been anything like that. He was so badly punished that any human body would go into a state of shock, barely capable of walking, let alone carry such a huge burden. They depict it like two railway ties or sleepers and I doubt if I could lift one!
I do not intend to dwell any further on the suffering and torment He had. Suffice it to say that He went to the cross and died, but this is not the end of the story.
We always want to remember this of course, but we should not keep Him on the cross. Raised in an Anglican church, I was accustomed to seeing all kinds of religious art, including crosses. Each Easter, we had a tradition of receiving little crosses made out of palm leaves on Palm Sunday. A special service was held and during the ceremony, these little crosses were blessed.
We went to the front to receive our little crosses and I still fondly recall those early days, but....
Many years later, after I had been born again, someone gave me a necklace with a wooden cross that was supposedly taken from an olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane. I was pleased to receive it.
This may be contrary to many peoples’ ideas, but one day the Lord told me to get rid of it saying that erection of crosses as we often see is offensive to Him. I thought it was an aid to remember, but He said that in many peoples’ minds they are keeping Him there. It’s food for thought.
The tomb is empty and He is risen and this is what Easter should be about.
When they crucified our Lord, they made a sign that they attached to His cross. It was written in the main languages of the time, Greek, Roman and Hebrew, thus symbolizing that it applies to all mankind, of every tongue everywhere that Jesus is King.
It did not say he was king. That was a profound prophetic declaration that I shall make again.
And there was also an inscription written over Him in letters of Greek, and Roman, and Heḇrew:
THIS IS THE SOVEREIGN OF THE YEHUḎIM. Luke 23:38
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Pilate scourged Jesus before he delivered Him to be crucified, so we need to understand what it meant to be scourged. Pilate had not found any problem with Jesus and wanted to release Him, but succumbed to political and probably to financial pressure and issued the order. The word Scourged is the Greek word Phragello.
It is horrific to say the least. Religion and religious art has not honestly portrayed the events of what we now call Easter.
What happened was one of the most sadistic, cruel and animalistic forms of punishment meted out by the Romans.
Scourging was considered to be one of their most feared and deadly weapons. It was so ghastly that the mere threat of scourging could control people. It could calm a crowd, bend the will of the strongest rebel or cause the most hardened criminal to cringe in fear.
Religious art reveals Jesus modestly covered with a loincloth, with a few cuts across His body but this is far from the truth.
The victim was stripped completely naked and bound to the whipping post. Being stripped caused shame enough but the anticipation of the first blow was worse. It caused the victim’s body to grow rigid, the muscles to knot in his stomach and the color to drain from his cheeks.
The scourging post was approximately two feet or 600 mm high to which a metal ring was fixed. The victim’s hands were tied over his head and his wrists were securely shackled to the metal ring to restrain his body from possible movement.
The scourge itself consisted of a short, wooden handle to which were affixed several 18 to 24 inch (500 to 600 mm) long straps of leather. Sharp objects like pieces of metal or bone were attached to the ends of the thongs.
Two men often engaged in the scourging process. They were sadists took great delight in torturing the victim, whilst standing on either side of the victim to strike so hard that the thongs lashed the entire back and wrapped around the body, cutting deeply thorough the skin, into the flesh and shredded everything in the process.
This way, the thongs also covered the entire torso, which meant that the chest and stomach were also lacerated.
The torturers often jerked backward to tear whole pieces of flesh from the body, with the result that the victim’s back, buttocks, chest, stomach, the back of the legs and even the face would soon be slashed.
Historical records describe a victim’s back as being so mutilated after a Roman scourging that his spine was sometimes exposed. Others recorded how the bowels of a victim would actually spill out through the open wounds created by the whip.
The early Church historian Eusebius said-
The veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure. During the scourging, blood vessels were cut open so much that the victim would experience profuse loss of blood and bodily fluids. Because the body started bleeding profusely, the heart started pumping harder, and so blood gushed uncontrollably through the opened vessels. This loss of blood caused the victim’s blood pressure to drop drastically. The massive loss of bodily fluids induced an intense almost uncontrollable and painful thirst. Fainting from the pain, going into shock and such irregular heartbeat often causing cardiac arrest often happened.
The Jews were permitted by Law according to Deuteronomy 25:3 to give forty lashes to a victim, but because the fortieth lash usually proved fatal, the number of lashes given was reduced to thirty-nine. See 2 Corinthians 11:24. I previously shared a picture of a Jewish Passover Seder where Matzos could be seen. This is often specially baked and is striped and perforated.
I have been told that there are 39 such stripes and perforations, but cannot verify this. I have also been told that there are 39 main categories of diseases, but again cannot verify this. Nevertheless, the pattern is there.
Whilst Jews forbade such punishment to exceed 39 lashes, the Romans had no limitations. It is possible therefore that Jesus may have had more than forty lashes across His body. This may explain the additional outrage the Jews displayed towards Jesus.
Little wonder therefore the prophecies said that Jesus would be almost unrecognizable as a human being.
Isaiah 52:14 says-
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.
Psalm 129:3 therefore takes on deep significance, but we must remember that this scourging was but the beginning.
This scourging was only the preparation for Jesus’ crucifixion! Matthew 27:26 says that he then delivered Jesus to be crucified.
It was at a place called Golgotha. This word has a Hebrew origin—gulgōlet. It means something round—like a skull, but, watch this—it is also the root of the word Galilee. Wow! Jesus spent a lot of time in Galilee. That cannot be a coincidence.
One meaning describes a round white rock that resembles a human head. You might see the shape in the picture that is supposedly the place where Jesus was crucified. This was the hill of crucifixion that was used by the Romans and one must ask why they chose such a place. Was it a matter of convenience? Did they deliberately pick it or were they “influenced” by God to use that place to fit in with His plan that had been formulated before the Roman empire was ever created? Unwittingly perhaps, they, Judas and the devil were all doing precisely what God wanted to bring us salvation. Peter said:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Acts 2:23
I would like you to look at a few key words in this verse, starting with determinate. In the Greek it is horizō meaning that at some previous time, God had appointed, declared, determined and ordained it to happen at His set time. The word counsel is boulē and it talks about purpose and intent. Foreknowledge is prognōsis. This means that God knew in advance, and planned for it to happen just as He wanted it and made sure it happened that way. There is more to it than that of course, but I have hopefully painted the picture for you that our salvation and relationship with God had been meticulously planned before the dawn of time. Calvary was when God “made it happen”.
When Jesus was taken up that rugged hill and nailed to the cross, it was as I have touched on already—the place of the skull that is just a rock formation—a smooth, rounded rock that “just happens” to look like a human skull. If it is such a rock formation, stop for a moment to ask when that rock formation was formed. How old is it? When God picked up a lump of clay and squeezed it in his hand to form a ball and call it the planet earth—He made that rock! But wait...there’s more!
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; Numbers 1:1-2
You might wonder what that has to do with Easter. The Hebrew word for polls is golgoleth. It means “by their skulls”.
This was the best and most basic way to count people—head by head.
This indicates that Jesus’ redemptive death on the cross at the place of the skull provided salvation for every individual human who will ever live. It was as if God did a head count when He made the place of the skull, but still gave us freedom to make the choice. He knew how many people would accept this free gift that God had offered us and when we were added to this count, our names were added to the Lamb’s Book of Life...but then God knew we would.
What amazing love.
The Romans scourged Jesus mercilessly and it was not a pretty sight. It was a gruesome and a sickening sight, when all the hatred, spite and venom of the devil was unleashed at him through human agents. No man has ever suffered as this man suffered.
The bible says that he was spat upon, kicked and beaten and then scourged. He was so marred and disfigured... so wounded, bruised and battered to a pulp, with split lips, blackened eyes, great lumps of his hair torn from his face and his head and so savagely whipped, his back was torn to shreds so extensively that he was almost unrecognizable as a human.
What was the reason for these horrible inflictions? Was it just for some men’s’ sadistic and barbaric pleasure, or was there an ulterior motive?
Religious tradition and religious art has not always presented the truth, sometimes portraying Calvary as some form of noble act. To some extent it may have been noble, but the reality is vastly different.
Jesus is often pictured hanging there modestly covered with a loin cloth, a crown of thorns perched lightly on his head and a few marks on his body caused by whipping, but that is not correct. He was stripped stark naked and open to public gaze and ridicule as this was and still is a gross act of inflicting shame and disgrace on the victim.
The crown of thorns was rammed on his head tearing his scalp open. It has been said that the crown of thorns was plaited from what was called the Snake Vine, as the sap caused excruciating agony and made the face swell horribly. His back was torn to shreds, some commentators suggesting that many of the wounds not only tore great lumps of flesh from his body, but opened him up to the bone in places. Again, I ask a question, “Why”?
The word scourge is equivalent to the Italian word Scoriada, taken from two Latin words, Excoriare, which means to flay and the other is Corium, which means skin. A scourge is a multi-thong whip or lash, designed primarily to inflict corporal punishment. The typical scourge in Latin is Flagrum and in the English is Flagellum and has several thongs fastened to a handle. The scourge, or flail and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of Osiris Egyptian monuments and it seems that the flail depicted in Egyptian mythology was an agricultural instrument used to thresh wheat and not for corporal punishment.
In 1 Kings 12:11 which says My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions, the word scorpio (scorpion) is the Latin word for a Roman Flagrum. Hard material was affixed to multiple thongs to give a flesh-tearing ‘bite’.
The name testifies to the pain caused by the Arachnid, which is the family of scorpions, spiders and other eight-legged creatures, most of which can inflict painful, if not deadly bites.
We may wonder why this seemed so severe—so cruel or sadistic. Under the Law, certain judgments were made regarding miscarriage of justice and offenses made against other people. For example-
If men contend with each other, and a pregnant woman [interfering] is hurt so that she has a miscarriage, yet no further damage follows, [the one who hurt her] shall surely be punished with a fine [paid] to the woman’s husband, as much as the judges determine. But if any damage follows, then you shall give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burn for burn, wound for wound, and lash for lash. Exodus 21:22-25.
Deuteronomy 25:1-3 states-
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Let me suggest to you that someone was offended and that controversy did exist between two parties—God and man.
Because of what we call original sin, the righteousness of God was violated and someone had to pay the price and the punishment was death. The results are poverty and sickness. This is not what God wants however, but the righteous Judge had passed sentence that had to be fulfilled to satisfy judgment.
God provided a substitute, His Son, Jesus Christ. Several matters had to be addressed and the full price paid. They were the sin issue, which was dealt with on the Cross when Jesus died in our stead, because of disobedience.
I said disobedience for a purpose and ask you to consider who or what was cursed? This could startle you. I always thought that Adam was cursed, but that might not be so. It seems that the serpent was cursed—but Adam was punished.
Adonai, God, said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. Genesis 3:14 (emphasis mine)
It is true that there is a curse and it is equally true that Jesus redeemed us from that curse, but what is this curse?
No one knew it was a sin until it was told them. You do not know if you are breaking the law of the land if you do not know that such a law exists. When we were in Liberia, our hosts were amazed when we told them about our speed limits when driving a car. They had no such law. How do you know if it is wrong (or a sin) to do a certain thing or neglect to do it unless you are told it is? We have what we call conscience of course, but if we do not know—we just do not know.
God gave Moses His Law to tell them (and us) that such a thing is sin.
It was this Law that produced the curse. It acted like a schoolmaster, continually correcting us and putting us under condemnation because no human being could keep it. Only Jesus could do that. God gave Moses the Law as a temporary measure until the Lord came so that when someone sinned, they could do something about it.
This was the curse from which Jesus released us. He became that curse. Legalism in the church and an attempt to revert to The Law is an affront to God. For more information, see Deuteronomy 27:6, 29:21; Joshua 8:34; Nehemiah 10:29; Daniel 9:11; Galatians 3:10-13. Many of our faith doctrines, especially the prosperity doctrines are only half right! There are more curses in Deuteronomy than there are blessings.
As time seems to be racing away and we are getting closer to the end of this age, we must see and understand truth, nothing else. To fully satisfy the demands of righteous judgment in every aspect, Jesus had to become a substitute for everything.
Someone had to pay the price and the payment for sickness and disease was this punishment that was inflicted by way of beating. Psalm 89:19-37 touches on this.
Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.
Isaiah 53 reveals how this was fulfilled.
Who has believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed? For [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him. Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living [stricken to His death] for the transgression of my [Isaiah’s] people, to whom the stroke was due? And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick.
When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord]. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious). Isaiah 53:1-12 (emphasis mine).
Isaiah revealed that it would be God... who afflicted Jesus. He did that for you. He used the Jewish religious leaders (not the ordinary people) and the Roman as a tool to achieve this.
Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him.
When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you.
You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives. 1 Peter 2:22-25.
This is why Jesus was beaten so savagely. Every time that scourge hit Him, God dealt with the source of sickness and disease.
It is said that the number of stripes that tore Jesus’ flesh apart represented the same number of disease groups that afflict us.
As the whip came down, cancers were dealt with. When the whip struck again the legal precedents were established to heal every form of blindness. The next time the lash hit Him every muscular disease no longer had legal hold over us. I could continue with more illustrations but this paints the picture.
When the Psalm writer said Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back (Psalm 129:3), it was as if Jesus was thinking of you...
There is so much more I could share about the events of the cross. Why was an innocent man compelled to carry Jesus’ cross?
Why did He cry out “I thirst” and was given vinegar. The cross we often see in religious art and Hollywood movies might not have been anything like that. He was so badly punished that any human body would go into a state of shock, barely capable of walking, let alone carry such a huge burden. They depict it like two railway ties or sleepers and I doubt if I could lift one!
I do not intend to dwell any further on the suffering and torment He had. Suffice it to say that He went to the cross and died, but this is not the end of the story.
We always want to remember this of course, but we should not keep Him on the cross. Raised in an Anglican church, I was accustomed to seeing all kinds of religious art, including crosses. Each Easter, we had a tradition of receiving little crosses made out of palm leaves on Palm Sunday. A special service was held and during the ceremony, these little crosses were blessed.
We went to the front to receive our little crosses and I still fondly recall those early days, but....
Many years later, after I had been born again, someone gave me a necklace with a wooden cross that was supposedly taken from an olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane. I was pleased to receive it.
This may be contrary to many peoples’ ideas, but one day the Lord told me to get rid of it saying that erection of crosses as we often see is offensive to Him. I thought it was an aid to remember, but He said that in many peoples’ minds they are keeping Him there. It’s food for thought.
The tomb is empty and He is risen and this is what Easter should be about.
When they crucified our Lord, they made a sign that they attached to His cross. It was written in the main languages of the time, Greek, Roman and Hebrew, thus symbolizing that it applies to all mankind, of every tongue everywhere that Jesus is King.
It did not say he was king. That was a profound prophetic declaration that I shall make again.
And there was also an inscription written over Him in letters of Greek, and Roman, and Heḇrew:
THIS IS THE SOVEREIGN OF THE YEHUḎIM. Luke 23:38
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Pilate scourged Jesus before he delivered Him to be crucified, so we need to understand what it meant to be scourged. Pilate had not found any problem with Jesus and wanted to release Him, but succumbed to political and probably to financial pressure and issued the order. The word Scourged is the Greek word Phragello.
It is horrific to say the least. Religion and religious art has not honestly portrayed the events of what we now call Easter.
What happened was one of the most sadistic, cruel and animalistic forms of punishment meted out by the Romans.
Scourging was considered to be one of their most feared and deadly weapons. It was so ghastly that the mere threat of scourging could control people. It could calm a crowd, bend the will of the strongest rebel or cause the most hardened criminal to cringe in fear.
Religious art reveals Jesus modestly covered with a loincloth, with a few cuts across His body but this is far from the truth.
The victim was stripped completely naked and bound to the whipping post. Being stripped caused shame enough but the anticipation of the first blow was worse. It caused the victim’s body to grow rigid, the muscles to knot in his stomach and the color to drain from his cheeks.
The scourging post was approximately two feet or 600 mm high to which a metal ring was fixed. The victim’s hands were tied over his head and his wrists were securely shackled to the metal ring to restrain his body from possible movement.
The scourge itself consisted of a short, wooden handle to which were affixed several 18 to 24 inch (500 to 600 mm) long straps of leather. Sharp objects like pieces of metal or bone were attached to the ends of the thongs.
Two men often engaged in the scourging process. They were sadists took great delight in torturing the victim, whilst standing on either side of the victim to strike so hard that the thongs lashed the entire back and wrapped around the body, cutting deeply thorough the skin, into the flesh and shredded everything in the process.
This way, the thongs also covered the entire torso, which meant that the chest and stomach were also lacerated.
The torturers often jerked backward to tear whole pieces of flesh from the body, with the result that the victim’s back, buttocks, chest, stomach, the back of the legs and even the face would soon be slashed.
Historical records describe a victim’s back as being so mutilated after a Roman scourging that his spine was sometimes exposed. Others recorded how the bowels of a victim would actually spill out through the open wounds created by the whip.
The early Church historian Eusebius said-
The veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure. During the scourging, blood vessels were cut open so much that the victim would experience profuse loss of blood and bodily fluids. Because the body started bleeding profusely, the heart started pumping harder, and so blood gushed uncontrollably through the opened vessels. This loss of blood caused the victim’s blood pressure to drop drastically. The massive loss of bodily fluids induced an intense almost uncontrollable and painful thirst. Fainting from the pain, going into shock and such irregular heartbeat often causing cardiac arrest often happened.
The Jews were permitted by Law according to Deuteronomy 25:3 to give forty lashes to a victim, but because the fortieth lash usually proved fatal, the number of lashes given was reduced to thirty-nine. See 2 Corinthians 11:24. I previously shared a picture of a Jewish Passover Seder where Matzos could be seen. This is often specially baked and is striped and perforated.
I have been told that there are 39 such stripes and perforations, but cannot verify this. I have also been told that there are 39 main categories of diseases, but again cannot verify this. Nevertheless, the pattern is there.
Whilst Jews forbade such punishment to exceed 39 lashes, the Romans had no limitations. It is possible therefore that Jesus may have had more than forty lashes across His body. This may explain the additional outrage the Jews displayed towards Jesus.
Little wonder therefore the prophecies said that Jesus would be almost unrecognizable as a human being.
Isaiah 52:14 says-
As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.
Psalm 129:3 therefore takes on deep significance, but we must remember that this scourging was but the beginning.
This scourging was only the preparation for Jesus’ crucifixion! Matthew 27:26 says that he then delivered Jesus to be crucified.
It was at a place called Golgotha. This word has a Hebrew origin—gulgōlet. It means something round—like a skull, but, watch this—it is also the root of the word Galilee. Wow! Jesus spent a lot of time in Galilee. That cannot be a coincidence.
One meaning describes a round white rock that resembles a human head. You might see the shape in the picture that is supposedly the place where Jesus was crucified. This was the hill of crucifixion that was used by the Romans and one must ask why they chose such a place. Was it a matter of convenience? Did they deliberately pick it or were they “influenced” by God to use that place to fit in with His plan that had been formulated before the Roman empire was ever created? Unwittingly perhaps, they, Judas and the devil were all doing precisely what God wanted to bring us salvation. Peter said:
Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Acts 2:23
I would like you to look at a few key words in this verse, starting with determinate. In the Greek it is horizō meaning that at some previous time, God had appointed, declared, determined and ordained it to happen at His set time. The word counsel is boulē and it talks about purpose and intent. Foreknowledge is prognōsis. This means that God knew in advance, and planned for it to happen just as He wanted it and made sure it happened that way. There is more to it than that of course, but I have hopefully painted the picture for you that our salvation and relationship with God had been meticulously planned before the dawn of time. Calvary was when God “made it happen”.
When Jesus was taken up that rugged hill and nailed to the cross, it was as I have touched on already—the place of the skull that is just a rock formation—a smooth, rounded rock that “just happens” to look like a human skull. If it is such a rock formation, stop for a moment to ask when that rock formation was formed. How old is it? When God picked up a lump of clay and squeezed it in his hand to form a ball and call it the planet earth—He made that rock! But wait...there’s more!
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls; Numbers 1:1-2
You might wonder what that has to do with Easter. The Hebrew word for polls is golgoleth. It means “by their skulls”.
This was the best and most basic way to count people—head by head.
This indicates that Jesus’ redemptive death on the cross at the place of the skull provided salvation for every individual human who will ever live. It was as if God did a head count when He made the place of the skull, but still gave us freedom to make the choice. He knew how many people would accept this free gift that God had offered us and when we were added to this count, our names were added to the Lamb’s Book of Life...but then God knew we would.
What amazing love.
The Romans scourged Jesus mercilessly and it was not a pretty sight. It was a gruesome and a sickening sight, when all the hatred, spite and venom of the devil was unleashed at him through human agents. No man has ever suffered as this man suffered.
The bible says that he was spat upon, kicked and beaten and then scourged. He was so marred and disfigured... so wounded, bruised and battered to a pulp, with split lips, blackened eyes, great lumps of his hair torn from his face and his head and so savagely whipped, his back was torn to shreds so extensively that he was almost unrecognizable as a human.
What was the reason for these horrible inflictions? Was it just for some men’s’ sadistic and barbaric pleasure, or was there an ulterior motive?
Religious tradition and religious art has not always presented the truth, sometimes portraying Calvary as some form of noble act. To some extent it may have been noble, but the reality is vastly different.
Jesus is often pictured hanging there modestly covered with a loin cloth, a crown of thorns perched lightly on his head and a few marks on his body caused by whipping, but that is not correct. He was stripped stark naked and open to public gaze and ridicule as this was and still is a gross act of inflicting shame and disgrace on the victim.
The crown of thorns was rammed on his head tearing his scalp open. It has been said that the crown of thorns was plaited from what was called the Snake Vine, as the sap caused excruciating agony and made the face swell horribly. His back was torn to shreds, some commentators suggesting that many of the wounds not only tore great lumps of flesh from his body, but opened him up to the bone in places. Again, I ask a question, “Why”?
The word scourge is equivalent to the Italian word Scoriada, taken from two Latin words, Excoriare, which means to flay and the other is Corium, which means skin. A scourge is a multi-thong whip or lash, designed primarily to inflict corporal punishment. The typical scourge in Latin is Flagrum and in the English is Flagellum and has several thongs fastened to a handle. The scourge, or flail and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination depicted in the hands of Osiris Egyptian monuments and it seems that the flail depicted in Egyptian mythology was an agricultural instrument used to thresh wheat and not for corporal punishment.
In 1 Kings 12:11 which says My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions, the word scorpio (scorpion) is the Latin word for a Roman Flagrum. Hard material was affixed to multiple thongs to give a flesh-tearing ‘bite’.
The name testifies to the pain caused by the Arachnid, which is the family of scorpions, spiders and other eight-legged creatures, most of which can inflict painful, if not deadly bites.
We may wonder why this seemed so severe—so cruel or sadistic. Under the Law, certain judgments were made regarding miscarriage of justice and offenses made against other people. For example-
If men contend with each other, and a pregnant woman [interfering] is hurt so that she has a miscarriage, yet no further damage follows, [the one who hurt her] shall surely be punished with a fine [paid] to the woman’s husband, as much as the judges determine. But if any damage follows, then you shall give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burn for burn, wound for wound, and lash for lash. Exodus 21:22-25.
Deuteronomy 25:1-3 states-
If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. And it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain number.
Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed: lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.
Let me suggest to you that someone was offended and that controversy did exist between two parties—God and man.
Because of what we call original sin, the righteousness of God was violated and someone had to pay the price and the punishment was death. The results are poverty and sickness. This is not what God wants however, but the righteous Judge had passed sentence that had to be fulfilled to satisfy judgment.
God provided a substitute, His Son, Jesus Christ. Several matters had to be addressed and the full price paid. They were the sin issue, which was dealt with on the Cross when Jesus died in our stead, because of disobedience.
I said disobedience for a purpose and ask you to consider who or what was cursed? This could startle you. I always thought that Adam was cursed, but that might not be so. It seems that the serpent was cursed—but Adam was punished.
Adonai, God, said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and wild animals. You will crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live. Genesis 3:14 (emphasis mine)
It is true that there is a curse and it is equally true that Jesus redeemed us from that curse, but what is this curse?
No one knew it was a sin until it was told them. You do not know if you are breaking the law of the land if you do not know that such a law exists. When we were in Liberia, our hosts were amazed when we told them about our speed limits when driving a car. They had no such law. How do you know if it is wrong (or a sin) to do a certain thing or neglect to do it unless you are told it is? We have what we call conscience of course, but if we do not know—we just do not know.
God gave Moses His Law to tell them (and us) that such a thing is sin.
It was this Law that produced the curse. It acted like a schoolmaster, continually correcting us and putting us under condemnation because no human being could keep it. Only Jesus could do that. God gave Moses the Law as a temporary measure until the Lord came so that when someone sinned, they could do something about it.
This was the curse from which Jesus released us. He became that curse. Legalism in the church and an attempt to revert to The Law is an affront to God. For more information, see Deuteronomy 27:6, 29:21; Joshua 8:34; Nehemiah 10:29; Daniel 9:11; Galatians 3:10-13. Many of our faith doctrines, especially the prosperity doctrines are only half right! There are more curses in Deuteronomy than there are blessings.
As time seems to be racing away and we are getting closer to the end of this age, we must see and understand truth, nothing else. To fully satisfy the demands of righteous judgment in every aspect, Jesus had to become a substitute for everything.
Someone had to pay the price and the payment for sickness and disease was this punishment that was inflicted by way of beating. Psalm 89:19-37 touches on this.
Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him: With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him. And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.
Isaiah 53 reveals how this was fulfilled.
Who has believed (trusted in, relied upon, and clung to) our message [of that which was revealed to us]? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been disclosed? For [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He has no form or comeliness [royal, kingly pomp], that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him. Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has made to light upon Him the guilt and iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, [yet when] He was afflicted, He was submissive and opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who among them considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living [stricken to His death] for the transgression of my [Isaiah’s] people, to whom the stroke was due? And they assigned Him a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief and made Him sick.
When You and He make His life an offering for sin [and He has risen from the dead, in time to come], He shall see His [spiritual] offspring, He shall prolong His days, and the will and pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul and be satisfied; by His knowledge of Himself [which He possesses and imparts to others] shall My [uncompromisingly] righteous One, My Servant, justify many and make many righteous (upright and in right standing with God), for He shall bear their iniquities and their guilt [with the consequences, says the Lord]. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great [kings and rulers], and He shall divide the spoil with the mighty, because He poured out His life unto death, and [He let Himself] be regarded as a criminal and be numbered with the transgressors; yet He bore [and took away] the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors (the rebellious). Isaiah 53:1-12 (emphasis mine).
Isaiah revealed that it would be God... who afflicted Jesus. He did that for you. He used the Jewish religious leaders (not the ordinary people) and the Roman as a tool to achieve this.
Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully. Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him.
When he suffered, he didn’t make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly. Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you.
You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives. 1 Peter 2:22-25.
This is why Jesus was beaten so savagely. Every time that scourge hit Him, God dealt with the source of sickness and disease.
It is said that the number of stripes that tore Jesus’ flesh apart represented the same number of disease groups that afflict us.
As the whip came down, cancers were dealt with. When the whip struck again the legal precedents were established to heal every form of blindness. The next time the lash hit Him every muscular disease no longer had legal hold over us. I could continue with more illustrations but this paints the picture.
When the Psalm writer said Their plowmen plowed long furrows up and down my back (Psalm 129:3), it was as if Jesus was thinking of you...
There is so much more I could share about the events of the cross. Why was an innocent man compelled to carry Jesus’ cross?
Why did He cry out “I thirst” and was given vinegar. The cross we often see in religious art and Hollywood movies might not have been anything like that. He was so badly punished that any human body would go into a state of shock, barely capable of walking, let alone carry such a huge burden. They depict it like two railway ties or sleepers and I doubt if I could lift one!
I do not intend to dwell any further on the suffering and torment He had. Suffice it to say that He went to the cross and died, but this is not the end of the story.
We always want to remember this of course, but we should not keep Him on the cross. Raised in an Anglican church, I was accustomed to seeing all kinds of religious art, including crosses. Each Easter, we had a tradition of receiving little crosses made out of palm leaves on Palm Sunday. A special service was held and during the ceremony, these little crosses were blessed.
We went to the front to receive our little crosses and I still fondly recall those early days, but....
Many years later, after I had been born again, someone gave me a necklace with a wooden cross that was supposedly taken from an olive tree from the Garden of Gethsemane. I was pleased to receive it.
This may be contrary to many peoples’ ideas, but one day the Lord told me to get rid of it saying that erection of crosses as we often see is offensive to Him. I thought it was an aid to remember, but He said that in many peoples’ minds they are keeping Him there. It’s food for thought.
The tomb is empty and He is risen and this is what Easter should be about.
When they crucified our Lord, they made a sign that they attached to His cross. It was written in the main languages of the time, Greek, Roman and Hebrew, thus symbolizing that it applies to all mankind, of every tongue everywhere that Jesus is King.
It did not say he was king. That was a profound prophetic declaration that I shall make again.
And there was also an inscription written over Him in letters of Greek, and Roman, and Heḇrew:
THIS IS THE SOVEREIGN OF THE YEHUḎIM. Luke 23:38
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