Where the Blood was Shed
What is precious to you?
—The most solemn truth in the gospel is that the only thing Christ left down here is His blood.
I) A Place of Submission ()
A) The Pollution of Sin
Suppose we were to go through this congregation this morning and put your sin in it, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours, and yours—put it right in there. Not some of your sin, all of your sin—every vile thought; every wicked deed; every hurtful, hateful thing; all of the sin of this congregation; and then the sin of this city; and then the sin of this nation; and then the sin of this world. Now, put it in the cup and take all the sins of the past and all of the sins of the future, distill it, put it in this cup. Put rape in there. Put sodomy in there. Put child abuse in there. Put Hitler’s gas ovens in there. Put murder in there. Put blasphemy in there. Put witchcraft in there. Put filth in there. And say, “Jesus, drink it. Drink it. Drink the bitter dregs. Become sin; not just bear sin, but become sin.” I didn’t say He sinned. He never sinned. But He was “made to be sin for us,” because He carried that sin to the cross.
B) The Punishment of Sin
The price that Jesus paid, only the damned in hell can begin to know; but they’ll never know, because they’re only paying their sin. He paid all of the sin of all of the people for all time. And, friend, if that doesn’t move your heart, your heart is harder than a rock. That is the content of that cup. No wonder Jesus said, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” (Matthew 26:39)
Can you see Him? His face is matted with blood and dirt—red blood and black dirt on His face. His heart is broken. This is the way they found Him when Judas planted that kiss of shame upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful.” The word sorrowful has the idea of being separated, alone. Before those nails ever went into the hands of Jesus, they had already come into His soul. Gethsemane was the vestibule of Calvary. The victory really was won in Gethsemane, not on Calvary. It was paid for at Calvary. It was won in Gethsemane—Jesus knowing what He would go through. There’s another word that Jesus used when He said “exceeding sorrowful,” and that word exceeding has the idea of being surrounded with no way out, no escape, no hope; absolute, abject suffering. And Jesus paid that for me and for you.
The specifics of the pain. “Being in an agony … his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Christ experienced pain in two areas—mental and physical. First, the mental pain. “Agony.” The word translated “agony” speaks of “severe mental struggles and emotions … anguish” (Thayer). Thus “agony” shows the great stress of mind that was upon Christ regarding Calvary. Second, the physical pain. “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Medically this condition is called “hematidrosis.” This phenomenon is very painful and death threatening. It can occur under the pressure of great emotional disturbance. Blood becomes mingled with a person’s sweat and comes through the sweat glands. That an emotional disturbance can affect the blood in our body is demonstrated by the common fact that some emotional disturbances cause blood to rise to the face and one becomes red in the face—we call it blushing. Luke is the only Gospel to report this affliction during Christ’s praying, but Luke is a physician and it is fitting that he report this unusual medical condition.
II) A Place of Oppression
A) Godless Religion ()
• The belittling in the cruelty. “The men [soldiers] that held Jesus mocked him” (Luke 22:63). You mock when you lack substance to factually accuse. These soldiers laughed with scorn at Christ, they belittled Him in their mockery. In judgment these soldiers will face the glorified Christ with horror at what they did to Him on earth.
• The beating in the cruelty. “Struck Him” (Luke 22:64). Christ was brutally beaten again and again by His enemies. By the time He was taken to Calvary, His body had been literally mauled by beatings. The venom against Christ was so great that sinful men relished the brutal beating of Christ.
• The blindfold in the cruelty. “When they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee” (Luke 22:64). This was a most contemptuous practice by the soldiers. Little did they realize that Christ did indeed know the source of every hitting of His face, and the one doing this cruelty, if unrepentant, will face this fact in judgment.
• The blasphemy in the cruelty. “Many other things blasphemously spake they against him” (Luke 22:65). All the evil was blasphemy, since it was all irreverent conduct and treated things sacred with great contempt. These trials were in total great blasphemy.
B) Godless Government ()
• The deviltry of the court. “I will therefore chastise him, and release him” (Luke 23:16). This was a bloody, cruel conduct. To “chastise” a person involved a cruel, brutal, bloody beating. First, the injustice of the deviltry. If a man is innocent, why treat him so meanly? To cruelly whip an innocent man is not justice at all. Second, the intent of the deviltry. Pilate was obviously hoping to appease the accusers who he realized were very upset with Christ. He thought giving Christ a great beating would calm their animosity. But it did not. The accusers wanted Christ dead not just cruelly beaten. Pilate thought he could go both directions at once—free Christ because innocent, yet punish Christ to satisfy His accusers.
III) A Place of Persecution ()
The site of the chastising. “Took Jesus into the common hall” (Matthew 27:27). The word translated “common hall” is the Greek word “praetorium” which refers to the house or palace of the governor. Here it refers not so much to a room as a courtyard inside the palace of the governor. The reason Jesus was taken “into” the praetorium is that the hypocritical Jews would not enter Pilate’s residence lest they be defiled for the Passover celebration (John 18:28), so the trial was held outside Pilate’s palace. These religious hypocrites had no scruples about murder, but they had scruples about entering the governor’s palace. Such hypocrisy reeks to high heaven.
• The soldiers in the chastising. “Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus” (Matthew 27:27). These soldiers were probably Pilate’s bodyguard. The chastising was “for the sport of seeing the scourging. These heathen soldiers would also enjoy showing their contempt for the Jews as well as for the condemned man” (A. T. Robertson).
• The stripping in the chastising. “They stripped him” (Matthew 27:28). Stripping Christ was done so they could put other clothes on Him for scorning. First, the shame in the stripping. There was no respect or dignity given Christ in this stripping off of His clothes. Second, the suffering in the stripping. Since His back had been bloodied earlier, stripping off His clothes would considerably aggravate the wounds.
• The scarlet in the chastising. “Put on him a scarlet robe” (Matthew 27:28). After stripping Christ of His garment, they put on another robe. This robe was scarlet and was to dress Him as a king. Mark and Luke said the robe was purple, but the people of that time gave the name purple to any color that had a mixture of red in it, so there is no contradiction here in color. The color was to represent royal apparel. Clothing Christ like a king was part of their mocking Him. This practice had also been done by the soldiers of Herod (Luke 23:11).
• The sovereign in the chastising. “They … platted a crown of thorns … put it upon his head” (Matthew 27:27). The soldiers made a wreath of thorns and pushed it on the head of Christ to mockingly make Him a Sovereign. The crown of thorns was to symbolize the crown of the king. The pain and bleeding would be great in this crowning mockery of Christ.
• The scepter in the chastising. “Put … a reed in his right hand” (Matthew 27:29). This was to represent the scepter which kings have. Mock as they will, little did the soldiers realize that Christ was indeed the greatest King and would have the greatest scepter ever. “Unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8).
• The stooping in the chastising. “They bowed the knee before him” (Matthew 27:29). The soldiers bowed with much mockery, but the day is coming when they will bow before Christ in great reverence. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Philippians 2:10).
• The speaking in the chastising. “They … mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:29). It was not enough to mock Christ with their cruelty, but they must also mock Him with their conversation. But as with the stooping, one day these soldiers will with much reverence recognize Christ not just as the “King of the Jews” but “KING OF KINGS” (Revelation 19:16).
• The spitting. “They spit upon him” (Matthew 27:30). Few things show so much contempt as spitting on a person. Oh the horror of eternity for those who spit on the Son of God.
• The smiting. “Took the reed, and smote him on the head” (Matthew 27:30). The soldiers took the reed they had given Christ which symbolized a scepter, and smote Christ on the head with it. It was cruel mockery indeed.
• The sequence to the chastising. “After that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him” (Matthew 27:31). It was not Pilate’s intention to have Christ crucified, but when the Jewish antagonizers saw the results of the chastisement (as we noted earlier), they called vehemently for the crucifixion of Christ. So following the chastising, Christ, Who by now was battered, bruised, and bleeding, was led away to be crucified.
IV) A Place of Passion ()
—Look at that Roman soldier as he pushed his spear into the very heart of the God-man. What a hellish deed! But what was the next thing that took place? Blood covered the spear! Oh I thank God, the blood covers sin. There was the blood covering that spear—the very point of it. The very crowning act of sin brought out the crowning act of love; the crowning act of wickedness was the crowning act of grace.