THE SUFFERINGS OF JESUS CHRIST
By Steven Greene
Website: https://sabbathreflections.org
As human beings, we have a difficult time relating to the pain and suffering of others unless we have been through a similar experience. It is not because we are coldhearted but rather that our hearts and minds want to avoid grief and pain; instead, we seek after love and joy. One reason Jesus Christ had to become flesh and submit to temptation, suffering, and death was so He could truly understand the afflictions of human beings. It is those experiences that make Him a loving and merciful High Priest, Judge, and Advocate for us before God the Father.
And even though we have not experienced the complete sufferings of Jesus Christ, God has given us a Spirit that opens our hearts to understand that tremendous sacrifice. Knowing what Jesus Christ suffered is important because we have “fellowship of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). By contemplating what He endured, we come to know Him in a very personal way that deepens as the years go by and we look to the God that sustained Jesus Christ during His worst torments for comfort from our own pain and sorrow.
Jesus Was Betrayed
MATTHEW 17:22 And while they were dwelling in Galilee, Jesus said to them [His disciples], “The Son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.”
To be betrayed is the most terrible offense that can be done to someone because the very act of it means that the love you had for that person was never reciprocated. The worst part is that the person despised your love. There is no greater cause of grief in any relationship or any act more devastating.
Jesus Was Secretly Arrested at Night, Having Committed No Crime
MATTHEW 26:50, 55 Then they [the high priest and Sanhedrin] came and laid their hands on Jesus, and arrested Him. … 55 At that point [some time after the Passover service] Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out to take Me with swords and clubs, as against a robber?”
JOHN 15:25 But this has happened so that the saying might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me [Jesus Christ] without a cause.’
Jesus Christ experienced shame and unjust persecution. He was arrested by the Sanhedrin, likely at the direction of the high priest. These all hated Jesus. As such, His arrest was nothing like today; the words for “laid their hands on” conceal a very forceful and physical act. Literally, it means “throw oneself upon to punish”. Mark 4:37 says, “the waves were crashing into the ship” where crashing is the same Greek word as laid in Matthew 26:50. These waves were caused by a megastorm, which brought waves crashing into the ship. The secret arrest of an innocent Jesus was only the beginning of His beatings.
Jesus Was Deserted by Everyone
MATTHEW 26:56 Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
Not only was Jesus arrested but His disciples abandoned Him in the worst hour of His life. He was completely at the mercy of His captors who brutally arrested Him in the middle of the night. While the disciples stood and watched from a distance, He was taken to the private home of the Caiaphas, the high priest. Forsook is translated or can mean desert wrongfully, disregard, neglect, abandon, leave destitute, leave behind, send away. Jesus was totally abandoned by His closest friends.
Jesus Was Falsely Accused
MATTHEW 26:59, 61 Now the chief priests and the elders and the whole Sanhedrin sought false evidence against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death; … 61 Then at the last, two false witnesses came forward and [gave false testimony].
Imagine being taken secretly before a judge and falsely accused of crimes, all the while knowing that your captors were eventually going to murder you. As Jesus stood silently before the most powerful men in all of Judea, He saw the murderous hatred in their eyes which drove them to use whatever means to fulfill their bloodlust. His trial was nothing more than a Kangaroo Court.
Jesus Was Spat Upon and Beaten
MATTHEW 26:67-68 Then they [the high priest and Sanhedrin] spit in His face and hit Him with their fists; and some struck Him with rods, 68 Saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who is the one that struck You?
These few words minimize the real beating that took place. Isaiah 52:14 says, “Many were astonished at Him—for His body was so disfigured—even His form beyond that of the sons of men.” Jesus was not hit or beaten with a rod a couple of times; He was pummeled again and again and again. Isaiah 50:6 adds that they literally pulled the hair of His beard out. He also did not turn aside when they spit in His face. The fist-pounding, clubbing, and hair pulling went on and on because that is what was required to disfigure His face so that even the people of that time, who had witnessed many other beatings, were astonished and stunned. His tormentors were filled with the satanic bloodlust of hatred. Remember, too, who did this: the high priest and council of elders or Sanhedrin, those who were the supposed priests of God!
Jesus Was Rejected
MATTHEW 27:21-22 Then the governor answered and said to them, ‘Which of the two do you desire that I release to you?’ And they [the high priest, Sanhedrin, and multitude of people] said, ‘Barabbas.’ 22 Pilate said to them, ‘What then shall I do with Jesus Who is called Christ?’ They all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’
The high priest and Sanhedrin, out of their hatred for Jesus, gathered the multitude (literally, rabble) of the city together and persuaded them to support their evil plot. These people were necessary to ensure that Pilate would heed their demands out of fear of causing a riot. Again, Jesus watched silently knowing of their deceit and that even the lowest citizens of Judea rejected Him as He was about to give His life for theirs.
Jesus Was Scourged
MATTHEW 27:26 Then he released Barabbas to them; but after scourging Jesus, he delivered Him up so that He might be crucified.
Again, the Bible doesn’t provide the details necessary to fully grasp what they did to Jesus. Roman law even forbade the scourging of Roman citizens because it was so brutal. A description of a scourging in the Ecclesiastical History [Eusebius], book 4, chapter 15, paragraph 4 reads, “For they say that the bystanders were struck with amazement when they saw them [the martyrs] lacerated with scourges even to the innermost veins and arteries, so that the hidden inward parts of the body, both their bowels and their members, were exposed to view.” Roman scourging was brutal beyond words.
Jesus Was Mocked and Despised
MATTHEW 27:29-30 And after platting a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a rod in His right hand; and bowing on their knees before Him, they mocked Him, and kept on saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 Then, after spitting on Him, they took the rod and struck Him on the head.
Such an act would be humiliating enough if it weren’t for the abuse that also occurred. The wreath of thorns was not just placed upon Jesus’ head as if putting a crown on a king. Again, the translation hides the cruelty behind this act by using the word put where the Greek meaning is to impose in a hostile sense. In other words, the wreath was shoved onto His head, driving the thorns through the flesh and down against His skull. This was further aggravated by hitting Him on the head with the rod intensifying the already terrible pain. Furthermore, the rod (reed in the KJV) was literally an instrument of torture. In Revelation 11:1 (KJV), “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod …” where rod can mean a cudgel. Jesus was not hit with a reed or simple switch but a cudgel stick that is strong and stout enough to be used as a weapon.
Remember, preceding all of this was the brutality of His arrest, the beating of the priests, and the flesh-tearing flagellum or scourging; and, still, it wasn’t over. It says in Psalm 69:20 that it broke Jesus’ heart to hear those hateful words:
PSALM 69:20 Reproach [disgrace] hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
Jesus Was Crucified on the Cross
MATTHEW 27:35 [T]hey crucified [impaled] Him …
Once again, the narrative simplifies a most terrible and cruel act. Nails were driven through His wrists (some claim it was His hands but most sources suggest the weight of His body would cause the nails to rip through the flesh), just below the wrist bone, through the major nerve running to the hand. His feet were also nailed against the cross, either through the feet or ankles. His hands and feet were about the only parts of His body that had not yet been injured and it would have been unimaginably excruciating. Crucifixion is a brutally painful way to die. It was perfected by the Romans to exact the greatest amount of pain and agony from the victims while prolonging death for many hours or even days. (For a more details of the agony of crucifixion, you can read about it on the Internet.)
Jesus Was Reviled and Mocked
MATTHEW 27:39-43 Then those who were passing by railed at Him, shaking their heads, 40 And saying, “You Who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself. If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 And in the same way also the chief priests were mocking, with the scribes and elders, saying, 42 “He saved others, but He does not have the power to save Himself. If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe Him. 43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ “
Notice that, once again, the high priest and Sanhedrin led the mocking of Jesus and even arrogantly pronounced that God had rejected Him. As the Son of the Most High God, they not only blasphemed Jesus but His Father as well. Amazingly, while under such agony that few have experienced, He did not revile back (1 Peter 2:23).
Incredibly, Jesus continues to be persecuted and suffer to this day. It is not the agony of a physical body but a spiritual pain:
ACTS 9:4 And after falling to the ground, he [Saul] heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?
1 CORINTHIANS 12:26-27 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with him; and if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with him. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and you are all individual members.
When God’s people are persecuted or suffer, Jesus Christ, who is the Head of the Body, feels the pain especially when it is inflicted by fellow brethren. Which is worse? The sacrifice or the pain we inflict on each other? God only knows.
Most of all, understand this: all the betrayals, lies, persecutions, injustices, shame, false accusations, beatings, tortures, and agonies came upon Jesus in the space of about eighteen hours. Any one of these will produce unimaginable pain and anguish. Jesus Christ felt and endured pain inflicted by men in a merciless world and still avoided committing sin! Is it any wonder that He sweated blood while praying to God? It was then, at the time of Jesus’ greatest physical affliction, that God laid the sins of the world, past, present, and future, upon an innocent Christ. Jesus never committed a single sin, so imagine the torture of the transgressions of billions of people coming upon Him all at once. Some have suggested that Jesus Christ didn’t suffer any more than others have in the history of the world. Truly, if we have any insight whatsoever into that singular Passover, there is no question that Jesus Christ endured what no man ever has. Worst of all, He suffered unjustly and innocently and all for one reason: love for the world:
ACTS 2:36-37 ‘Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with full assurance that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.’ 37 Now after hearing this, they were cut [pierced] to the heart; and they said to Peter and the other apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’
Now, what are YOU going to do?
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PROPHECIES OF JESUS’ CRUCIFIXION:
1) Genesis 3:15
2) Psalm 22:1, 6-21, 31 ["that He hath done this" = literally, "it is finished"]
3) Psalm 31:4-5
4) Psalm 34:20
5) Psalm 35:11
6) Psalm 38:10-11
7) Psalm 41:7, 9
8) Psalm 69:6-9, 19-21
9) Psalm 109:25
10) Isaiah 50:6
11) Isaiah 52:14
12) Isaiah 53
13) Zechariah 11:12-13
14) Zechariah 12:10
15) Zechariah 13:6-7.