Jesus the Suffering Servant
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
His name was Joseph Damien and he was a Belgian minister who was sent in 1873 to minister to lepers in Hawaii.
As soon as he arrived on Molokai, he began trying to build friendships with the residents of the leper colony, but they rejected him.
He poured himself into this ministry, building a small chapel and holding worship services.
But hardly anyone came.
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After 12 long years, he gave up.
While standing on the pier about to board the ship that would take him back to Belgium, he looked down at his hands.
The white spots he saw could mean only one thing.
He had contracted leprosy.
So instead of going home, he returned to his work in the leper colony.
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The news of the missionary’s disease spread through the community within hours, and soon the lepers--hundreds of them--had gathered outside his hut.
They understood his pain and despair.
The following Sunday when Damien arrived at the chapel, the small building was filled to overflowing.
That was the beginning of a long and fruitful ministry.
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What made the difference?
Now the lepers knew that he understood their condition.
There was no question about whether he cared or not.
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In the same way, we have a God who has identified with our situation.
Though without sin, our Savior experienced all the pain and frustration of earthly existence in order to bring us life.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 9 and focus on verses 18 through 22.
Our message this morning is titled, “Jesus the Suffering Servant”
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This message today will focus on Peter’s confession of who Jesus really is...
The long-promised Messiah...
And Jesus will reveal to the disciples what the Messiah must endure...
His revelation will both confuse and shock them...
For it is not what they are expecting.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) Who Do They Say He Is?
2) Who Do You Say He Is?
And...
3) Why Must He Suffer?
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
Thank you for sending Jesus into our world...
Thank You for sending Your Son into a world that is so broken and hostile to goodness...
Thank You for loving us so much that You sent Jesus to sacrifice Himself for us.
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Help us to never forget this truth...
Help us to appreciate the suffering that Your Son had to endure for us...
Help us to be more like Him everyday.
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one,
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) Who Do They Say He Is?
1) Who Do They Say He Is?
Verses 18-19: Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
Last week we covered the miracle when Jesus feed the thousands...
Now, this event we are about to study took place after quite some time from that event...
In fact, in the Gospel’s of Matthew and Mark there are a few events that take place in between the feeding of the thousands and this event...
However, since each Gospel writer has a different theme and audience they are reaching...
Each author is selective about which accounts they cover in their respective Gospel acounts.
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In this case, Luke jumps ahead as it better fits his theme and the message he is getting across to his audience...
Which is the answer to the million dollar question...
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Who is Jesus?
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As you will recall in our study over the past few weeks the subject of who Jesus is had been a major factor and focal point...
And today’s event that we will cover is a huge turning point between the relationship between Jesus and His disciples.
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So, let us start with the setting...
This event takes place in the district of Caesarea Philippi...
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How do we know this?
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The other Gospels record this as witnessed in Matthew 16:13 which says:
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
The district of Caesarea Philippi was about 25 miles North of Galilee and located at the base of Mount Hermon...
Please note that this was different from the city of Caesarea which was built by Herod the Great on the Mediterranean coast.
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Next, I would like you to notice that our passage says that Jesus was praying alone...
As we discusses in our study before, Jesus is often recorded as praying before important events take place.
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So, in this instance, Jesus was praying that his disciples would truly grasp who He really is...
That is why right after this time of prayer Jesus will ask the disciples a few questions regarding who He is...
The first question He asks them is, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
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To this question the apostles say, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”
So, the disciples response was lined up with the popular messianic expectations held in Israel, arising from Old Testament predictions about a great prophet who was to come in the future...
These expectations even reached Herod the Tetarch as we covered a few weeks ago when we covered Luke 9:7-9 which says:
7 Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,
8 by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen.
9 Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.
Theologian James R. Edwards says:
“Comparing Jesus to John, Elijah, or a prophet indicates his preeminence in the popular mind and enshrines him among the stellar figures in Israel’s long and illustrious history.
Yet even these comparisons are inadequate.
To designate Jesus a new Moses or Elijah—
Or, as we often hear today, the greatest teacher or moral example who ever lived—
Is ultimately to deny his uniqueness, for it simply identifies him as the reemergence, or greater example, of an earlier prototype.
Such thinking is an example of ‘pouring new wine into old wineskins.’
The authority and power that Jesus has demonstrated since his endowment with the Holy Spirit at the baptism do not allow him to be defined by something other than himself and his relationship with the Father.”
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Just like in our time, Jesus is misunderstood by the greater society...
2,000 years have passed and that still does not change this fact...
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Remember that the disciples at this point already went on and completed their first mission trip when Jesus sent them out two by two...
So, the disciples have covered a lot of ground in their travels and really have a good sense of what the people thought of Jesus...
But the real question is what do they individually believe in regards to who Jesus is...
And this takes us to our second point.
2) Who Do You Say He Is?
2) Who Do You Say He Is?
Verse 20: Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
This is the big question...
This is the most important question any individual will ever answer...
Who is Jesus?
Or as our Lord and Savior said to His disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”
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And then Luke records for us that Peter, representing the rest of the disciples, answered, “The Christ of God.”
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That is a good answer!
For the word “Christ” which in Greek is “Christos” means “Messiah” or “Anointed One.”
So, Jesus Christ is the one whom God has chosen above all others and whom God has endowed with the Holy Spirit to bring salvation.
In fact, the phrase “The Christ of God” is an allusion to Psalm 2:2 which says:
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
Here we see that God promises to give the nations to His Messiah despite their conspiracy to resist His rule.
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It also needs to be noted that Jesus has already had been designated as the Christ by the angels, the narrator, the demons, and indirectly by Jesus Himself...
However, this is the first time the disciples had recognized Him as the long-promised Messiah!
So, this is a big deal!
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It needs to be stressed that this faithful and right answer by Peter did not just come from his intellect or wisdom...
He did not figure this out with the power of his mind...
For flesh and blood did not reveal this...
Or as Matthew 16:17-19 says:
17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
As the MacArthur Study Bible notes:
“Christ’s messianic claims had always been subtle allusions to Old Testament prophecies, combined with miraculous works that substantiated those claims.
Never before had He explicitly taught Peter and the apostles the fullness of His identity.
God the Father had opened Peter’s eyes to the full significance of those claims, and revealed to him who Jesus really was.
In other words, God had opened Peter’s heart to this deeper knowledge of Christ by faith.
Peter was not merely expressing an academic opinion about the identity of Christ;
This was a confession of Peter’s personal faith, made possible by a divinely-regenerated heart.
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The word for “Peter,” Petros, means a small stone.
Jesus used a play on words here with petra which means a foundation boulder.
Since the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation and the head of the church, it is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter.
There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church, but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter.
So Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone.
Peter himself explains the imagery in his first epistle:
The church is built of ‘living stones’ who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Christ Himself is the ‘corner stone.’
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[Regarding the word ‘church’] Matthew is the only gospel where this term is found.
Christ called it ‘My church,’ emphasizing that He alone is its Architect, Builder, Owner, and Lord.
The Greek word for church means ‘called out ones.’
While God had since the beginning of redemptive history been gathering the redeemed by grace, the unique church He promised to build began at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, by whom the Lord baptized believers into His body—which is the church.
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[The phrase ‘the gates of Hell or the gates of Hades’] is the place of punishment for the spirits of dead unbelievers.
The point of entry for such is death.
This, then, is a Jewish phrase referring to death.
Even death, the ultimate weapon of Satan, has no power to stop the church.
The blood of martyrs, in fact, has sped the growth of the church in size and spiritual power.
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[The phrase ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven’] represent authority, and here Christ gives Peter (and by extension all other believers) authority to declare what was bound or loosed in heaven.
This echoed the promise of John 20:23, where Christ gave the disciples authority to forgive or retain the sins of people.
All this must be understood in the context of Matthew 18:15–17, where Christ laid out specific instructions for dealing with sin in the church.
The sum of it all means that any duly constituted body of believers, acting in accord with God’s Word, has the authority to declare if someone is forgiven or unforgiven.
The church’s authority is not to determine these things, but to declare the judgment of heaven based on the principles of the Word.
When they make such judgments on the basis of God’s Word, they can be sure heaven is in accord.
In other words, whatever they ‘bind’ or ‘loose’ on earth is already ‘bound’ or ‘loosed’ in heaven.
When the church says the unrepentant person is bound in sin, the church is saying what God says about that person.
When the church acknowledges that a repentant person has been loosed from that sin, God agrees.”
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Going forward now the disciples will acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Messiah.
Thomas, who is often nicknamed “Doubting Thomas,” boldly made one of the clearest confessions of faith regarding who Jesus...
Just look with me at that it says in John 20:28:
28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
As the crowds start to go walk away from Jesus when His teachings are to hard fro them to accept just look at what it says in John 6:67-69:
67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
The masses may be going away but Pete still declares Jesus as the Messiah.
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However, it was not just the disciples that finally saw Jesus as the Christ and long- Promised Savior...
Martha acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah in John 11:24-27:
24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
Additionally, it was not just the faithful followers of Jesus who declared Him as the Christ...
Even those who participated in Jesus crucifixion could not help but declare that He was indeed the true Son of God...
As Matthew 27:54 says:
54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
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Jesus’ prayer was answered by the Father and the disciples finally understood that He was the Messiah...
However, the Messiah they have in mind was of a warrior Messiah...
Jesus on the other hand made it clear that Jesu was sent for another purpose...
The Messiah was not going to be this warlord to free Israel from their physical oppression...
He was sent to free both Jews and Gentiles from the oppression of sin...
For to do that the pure and perfect Lamb of God must suffer...
And this takes us to our third and final point.
3) Why Must He Suffer?
3) Why Must He Suffer?
Verses 21-22: And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Although, Peter’s confession is correct when he said that Jesus is, “The Christ of God”...
Jesus strictly charged and commanded the disciples to tell truth...
At least for the time being.
The reason that Jesus instructed His apostles to tell no one is because proclaiming this fact at this point i n Jesus’ ministry in Isreal would lead to much misunderstanding...
Because of Jewish nationalistic expectations, Jesus’ ministry would be more difficult as people would tried to force him into the role of a political and military leader against the Roman army...
We already have seen signs of this when Jesus has performed so of His incredible miracles...
So, if word got out too early in Jesus ministry that He was truly the Anointed King the people of Isreal would want to seem Him throw off the Roman yoke, smite the Gentiles, and bring political independence and greatness back to Israel...
This was not God’s will or desire and Jesus rejected all such nationalistic conception of messiahship...
For in reality God’s Anointed was to be a suffering Messiah!
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So, it is essential to understand that the death of Jesus is not to be seen as a mistake or tragedy...
It was a divine necessity and took place in accordance with the divine plan of God...
This will be confirmed later on in Luke 9:29-31 during the Transfiguration event...
That passage says:
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
And again in Acts 2:23:
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
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So, this is the first time, Jesus clearly teaches the Twelve that his role as God’s anointed Messiah involves suffering and death...
Additionally, there is great irony in how Jesus reveals that He will suffer...
As the Pillar New Testament Commentary on Luke says:
“The prediction of Jesus’ passion conceals a great irony, for the suffering and death of the Son of Man do not come, as we would expect, at the hands of godless and wicked people, but rather at the hands of ‘the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law.’
The Son of God will not be a victim of criminal lawlessness and anarchy, but of careful deliberations of lawful and religious leaders who, in rendering their decisions, believe themselves to render service to God.”
These “elders, chief priests, and scribes” are the three groups who made up the Sanhedrin, the ruling body of Judaism...
The are the ones who will plot and murder Jesus.
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Now the fact that Jesus was meant to suffer did not go so well with the disciples...
Peter even goes so far as to attempt to rebuke Jesus for saying that He must suffer...
Just look with me at Matthew 16:21-23 which says:
21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.
22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”
23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Peter was thinking worldly...
He did not know what he was saying.
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To Peter, he could not understand why Jesus would need to suffer if He was the Messiah...
Peter still did not understand that the Messiah came to our world to die in our place...
Yet this reality was long ago prophesied in the Scriptures...
As Luke 18:31–33 says:
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
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A few examples of those Old Testament Scriptures that described Jesus’ future suffering include Psalm 22:16–18 which says:
16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
How does one not think about Jesus when this psalm is read?
For Jesus would have His hands and feet pierced as He hung up on the cross...
For Jesus would die before the Roman soldiers would need to break His legs so all his bones we accounted for...
For Jesus garments were divided and lots were cast for them.
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The Prophet Isaiah also captures must of the suffering Jesus will go through as He is tortured and then hung up on the tree...
As Isaiah 50:6:
6 I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
Jesus’ beard was pulled out by wicked and heartless men...
Jesus was spit on by hateful men...
And Jesus was disgraced when He was stripped naked and hung on the tree.
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Isaiah 53:3–5 says:
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
So, Jesus was a Man of Sorrows...
And this Man of Sorrows was despised...
This Man of Sorrows was acquainted with grief...
Men hide their faces from this Man of Sorrows...
For they esteemed Him not.
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Yet, this Man of Sorrows bore our griefs...
This Man of Sorrows carried our sorrows...
But did we thank Him?
Did we appreciate what He came into our world to do?
Instead of celebrating Him we esteemed Him stricken and smitten by God and afflicted...
Instead we pierced Him for our transgressions.
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God the Father crushed God the Son for OUR iniquities!
Upon Him was the chastisement that brought US peace!
It is by the wounds of the Man of Sorrows that WE are healed!
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How can this Be!
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As we meditate on the suffering our Savior had to endure I would ask you to recall the words of the powerful hymn...
How Deep the Father’s Love by Stuart Townend
“How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure,
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure.
How great the pain of searing loss –
The Father turns His face away,
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory.
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Behold the man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders;
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers.
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished;
His dying breath has brought me life –
I know that it is finished.
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I will not boast in anything,
No gifts, no power, no wisdom;
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer;
But this I know with all my heart –
His wounds have paid my ransom.”
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Let’s continue in what else the Prophet Isaiah says in passages like Isaiah 53:7–8:
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
The King of Kings and Lord of Lords...
The Creator of all things seen and unseen...
He humbled Himself to the point of being oppressed...
He humbled Himself to the point of being afflicted...
And He did not even open His mouth...
He was described like a lamb being led to the slaughterhouse!
He was described like a sheep that is silent before its shearers!
He could have spoken up and stopped all His suffering...
Beloved, He spoke everything into existence...
He is totally sovereign over all men and with a word could have laid waist to those who dared to oppress Him...
But He would not open His mouth...
For He volunteered His life for our life...
God chose to be humiliated and tortured by His own creation to save His creation!
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This was no accident...
This was not part of some back up plan because His first plan failed...
Beloved, Jesus being the Suffering Servant was always part of God’s perfect plan!
As Isaiah 53:10 says:
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
It was the will of God the Father to crush God the Son!
How can this be!
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Beloved, our debt was so vast...
Our pile of sin so enormous...
That it took the sacrifice of God’s Son to save us!
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Why?
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Why would Jesus subject Himself to this torturous suffering?
Why sacrifice His life for those who were wretched rebels?
Why die for those who were His enemies?
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Why?
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The answer is that Jesus is truly the Good Shepherd!
As John 10:14–18 says:
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
Only Jesus has the authority to lay down His life so that He can take it up again!
The Romans could not take Jesus life from Him!
The Jews could not take Jesus life from Him!
No one could not take Jesus life from Him!
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However, as the Good Shepherd He by His own accord laid down his own life to save us!
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So, the Prince of Peace was spit on...
The Light of the world was struck in the face...
Emmanuel was slapped around...
Our Advocate and Mediator was mocked and insulted...
All this in the name of love!
As Matthew 26:67–68 says:
67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him,
68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”
And as it says in Matthew 27:27–30:
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.
28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
Jesus should have been honored by being clothed with the finest of cloths...
Yet they stripped Him.
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Jesus should have been honored with the most beautiful of crowns with with finest metals and rarest of jewels...
Yet they crowned Him with a crown of thorns.
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Jesus should have been honored by this an ornate specter...
Yet they mockingly gave Him reed in His right hand.
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Jesus’ flesh was ripped apart as John 19:1 says:
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.
This flogging alone nearly killed Him!
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Beloved, the flogging or more specifically the scourging that Jesus recieved was intense...
Scourging was not normally a form of execution, but it certainly was brutal enough to be fatal in many cases.
A person certainly could be beaten to death by the scourge if that was desired.
Its purpose was not only to cause great pain, but to humiliate as well.
It was belittling, debasing, and demeaning.
It was considered such a degrading form of punishment that Roman citizens were exempt from it.
It was, therefore, the punishment appropriate only for slaves and non-Romans.
To make it as humiliating as possible, scourging was carried out in public.
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The instrument used to deliver this form of punishment was called a flagrum.
The flagrum was a whip with several (at least three) thongs or strands, each perhaps as much as three feet long, and the strands were weighted with lead balls or pieces of bone.
This instrument was designed to lacerate.
The weighed thongs struck the skin so violently that it broke open.
The church historian Eusebius of Caesarea once said of scourging:
“For they say that the bystanders were struck with amazement when they saw them 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.”
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The victim of a scourging was bound to a post or frame, stripped of his clothing, and beaten with the flagrum from the shoulders to the loins.
The beating left the victim bloody and weak, in unimaginable pain, and near the point of death.
The lashes from a flagrum were delivered without any compassion or consideration for the victim’s health, and Roman law imposed no limit to the number of lashes inflicted at scourging.
It is no doubt that weakness from his scourging was largely the reason Jesus was unable to carry his cross all the way to Golgotha.
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After all this...
Jesus had to literally carry His own cross and then He was hung on that cross as it says in Luke 23:33:
33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
So, let me put it this way...
Jesus was forced to carry a wooden beam to the place of His crucifixion.
This beam would have been extremely heavy and after the beating Jesus would have been immensely weak.
He was so weak that He needed assistance carrying it.
But not only that, however, this wood was really rough and jagged and very splintered.
As Jesus walked, this ragged plank moved up and down His back, shoving huge splinters into His open flesh.
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Even after being nailed onto the cross, the splinters would continue to exacerbate the wounds on His back.
Every time Jesus would shift His weight from His feet to His arms then back to His feet, His back would rub against the splintered wood, causing a constant stabbing into the open wounds.
Some of the wooden shreds remained lodged in the muscles and exposed nerve endings.
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The nails were driven into Jesus’ wrists and pierced the main nerve running through the arm.
When Jesus would push up to breathe, His wrists rotated against the nail, which would irritate the nerves and cause intense pain in His arms.
The open nerves were exposed to the thick metal which produced a constant, recurring excruciating pain that had to be endured every time Jesus pulled up to breathe.
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His body hung in a slumped position, which forced His chest cavity to protrude.
An extended chest cavity allowed Jesus to inhale, but exhaling was nearly impossible.
The inability to exhale caused an increase in carbon dioxide throughout the body.
Increase carbon dioxide puts the body into acidosis which leads to the failure of the central nervous system, among other things.
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Since the body doesn’t get enough oxygen while hanging on the cross, the natural physiological response is hyperventilation.
Oxygen depravity makes the heart pump harder which leads to cardiac stress.
Cardiac stress can cause the heart to rupture inside the chest cavity.
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When Jesus hung on the cross, His knees were bent at a 45-degree angle which meant that He had to sustain the weight of His body with the thigh muscles. It is painful to bend the knees and support one’s weight with the thighs alone for even five minutes. Doing this for hours is unimaginable.
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The natural way for our vital organs to receive oxygen is through the flow of blood.
Proper movement of the arms and legs and their interaction with gravity is what enables this process.
The cross prevented Jesus from natural movement.
The stationary arms and legs, combined with gravity’s work of pulling the blood downward, prevents the vital organs from receiving the proper flow of oxygen.
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The organs respond to this unnatural position by sending warning signals to the brain that something is very wrong.
The warning signals are sent through the nerves that lead to the pain centers of the brain.
So, with all the other excruciating tortures that His body endured on the cross, the oxygen-deprived organs are sending unimaginable pain signals to the brain.
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These things did not happen in sequence...
With one occurring and the then the next...
Giving Jesus time to prepare.
Every single bodily response to crucifixion happened at the same time!
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The combined effect of all of these things happening to the body at once is beyond comprehension!
The pain and suffering are indescribable with words!
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As if the physical pain was not bad enough...
Jesus had to experience the spiritual trauma of being crushed by God the Father...
Which is to experience the full wrath of God...
This lead to Jesus response in Matthew 27:46 which says this:
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
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Despite all this...
Jesus made an incredible statement as found in Luke 23:34 which says:
34 And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Jesus said this as He was still being relentlessly mocked...
Just look at what the following verse says in Luke 23:35:
35 And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!”
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These are the sufferings of our precious Lord and Savior!
May we never forget the price that was paid for us!
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like to share this that I came across in my study this week:
In a painting of the Crucifixion by the famous Dutch artist, Rembrandt, our attention is drawn immediately to the cross and to Him who hangs there.
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Then looking at the crowd gathered around the Cross, we note the attitudes and actions of these people.
As our eyes drift to the edge of the picture, we see another figure in the shadows.
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This is Rembrandt himself.
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Rembrandt, helping to crucify Jesus!
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How true that is according to Isaiah 53:5:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
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It was I that shed the sacred blood!
I nailed Him to the tree!
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I crucified the Christ of God!
I joined the mockery!
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So, I look again and there in the shadows next to Rembrandt...
There I stand too.
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Yes, Beloved, we are the ones responsible for Jesus death!
We are the ones with blood on our hands!
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But He loved us anyway!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
May they understand the full depth of Jesus’ suffering!
May they realize that they deserve death which is the penalty of sin...
And may they realize that Jesus can save them from the penalty...
So, open their hearts to know You!
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
Remind them of the cost that was paid to save them...
Remind them of the full depth of Jesus’ suffering.......
And give them the boldness to tell others of Jesus’ willingness to suffer for our sake!
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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To God be all the glory.
Amen.
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Please join us for one more song from the Praise Band.
