Taking a Closer Look at Christ's Sacrifice

heard From the very beginning of God dealing with mankind, He has revealed to man the fact that He needed a Savior. He needed someone who could help. That man was incomplete, and that when man stumbled, sin, transgress, did not do what was right, that there was a need for the forgiveness of sin. As we've covered here recently in Genesis 3, you find the first prophecy in the Bible that refers to the coming of the Messiah and what was going to happen in the future.

I've mentioned recently that God has given many different rites, many different ceremonies to help to explain the need for His Savior. God actually gave the holy days to help explain that need. He gave a series of sacrifices. Actually, man from the very beginning started sacrificing Cain and Abel, and yet God established a whole system of sacrifices. He also, through the tabernacle, showed the need for His Savior and how you and I can approach God, and that we have to go through Christ to be able to do that. He also showed the need for a high priest, and all of this was given to ancient Israel, but they did not understand. Even the layout of the Garden of Eden and the layout of Eden were a type of what God was going to do with His people in the future. The sacrifices and eventually the temple or tabernacle signified that. Did Israel understand the significance of all of these ceremonies, all of these approaches of the holy days and what God intended for them to learn? Very few people really understood. I think some of the servants of God, a few of the kings maybe, some of the prophets came to understand, but the majority of the people certainly did not. You and I, when we look at it, you know, they looked, if they understood and especially the prophets, looked forward to a future time when prophecies would be fulfilled. You and I have the advantage of looking back. See, they had to look forward and say, well, at some point in the future there'd be a Messiah. You and I look back and say, we know when that occurred. We can read the account in the Gospels. It's articulated. It's written down for us. So therefore, we have the advantage. We likewise have the advantage of being called by God, having His Spirit, and for God revealing to us knowledge and understanding that they didn't have. And even if they did, in most cases it was only on a physical level. You and I can see the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies.

What I'd like for us to do today, brethren, is to review some of those events that were prophesied from the Old Testament for all of us as a group to go through, but not just to take it as a group to think about and to consider the meaning and the implication for each one of us individually. Because when we get down to especially the need for a Savior, the need to have our sins forgiven, it's not just a group matter. It's an individual matter between you and your God, between you and Jesus Christ. So we want to take a look and see if we can today truly gain some additional insight into what Christ went through. We know that the Bible predicted in the Old Testament in Christ when He came to this earth understood those prophecies, and He knew what He was about to face. If you'd like a title for this sermon, it's Taking a Closer Look at Christ's Sacrifice. That's to help our sound men and those who wonder what the name of the sermon is. Every year during the Passover service, we read through the account of the Gospels and about Christ's last Passover with His disciples. We read about foot washing and Peter's protesting, and Peter's saying, you know, you're not going to wash my feet. And Christ said, well, if you don't let me wash your feet, you have no part with me. And He said, okay, go ahead and wash my body. You'll just give me a bath. We read about Jesus leaving the meal to make His final arrangements to betray Jesus Christ. We read about Jesus Christ instituting the symbols of the bread and the wine as representing Him being beaten, scourged, and by His stripes were healed and the shedding of His blood so that we can have our sins forgiven. At the Passover, we always read through some of the final chapters of Christ's instructions to His disciples, and we end with John 17, where He talks about the need to be unified. We read in chapter 17 of the book of John that Jesus Christ prayed for us. He prayed for His church down through the ages. And finally, we close the service with Matthew 26 and verse 30. As Jesus and the disciples closed the Passover service observance about 1900, about 80 years ago, they sang a hymn and they departed. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 26. Matthew the 26th chapter and in verse 30. I'd like to pick up the story here today, where we leave off every year at the Passover service to continue reading about the events, how they symbolized. In other words, what Christ went through, how that symbolized the bread, how it symbolized the wine, and take a closer look at Jesus Christ's sacrifice for us.

So we'll pick up the story here in verse 30, Matthew 26. When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Now what happens next apparently transpired as they're walking to the Mount of Olives from the house where they've taken the Passover meal.

Apparently, they're walking along, they're talking, and Jesus in verse 31 says this, Jesus said to them, all of you will be made to stumble because of me this night. As it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. But after I've been raised, I will go to you before you into Galilee. And Peter answered and said to him, even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never stumble. See, Peter was always the first one to pop off or to say something. You know, I don't care if everybody else, you know, isn't loyal to you. I will be. You can always count on me, Lord. And Jesus said to him, Assurely I say to you that this night, see, before this night even passes, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.

Peter said to him, even if I have to die with you, I will not deny you. And so said all the disciples. So it wasn't just Peter. They all affirmed their loyalty, their commitment, to Jesus Christ. They would defend him to the death. They weren't about to be disloyal. And then in verse 36, then they came, then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, Sit here and I'll go pray over there. Now, Gethsemane was a place that Jesus Christ often visited in Jerusalem. And whenever he wanted to be alone, it was a relatively private place, quiet place, where Jesus could spend time with his disciples, not have big crowds milling around. And this is where he chose to go. Last night of his physical life with his disciples. This is where they went. In verse 37, he took with him Peter and two sons of Zebedee, that be James and John, and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Now, I want you to notice, Christ is going to go over and pray. He brings Peter and, or James and John, I should say, closer. And he tells them to watch with him. But it says that he is sorrowful and deeply distressed.

This gives an indication of what was going on in his mind, and what he was emotionally going through, his state of mind.

He was going through agony, mental anguish at this time. He knew what was coming. He had inspired all of the prophecies in the Old Testament. He had inspired Isaiah 52, 53, Psalm 22. He knew all of those particular scriptures. He knew what was prophesied to happen to him. And so, as he got closer to it, it's one thing to know. It's one thing to write about it, or inspire somebody to write about it. It's another thing for you to start going through it. And he realized this was it.

There was no backing out unless God the Father was willing to change things.

And in verse 38, he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. So his sorrow was to the point of death.

If you ever agreed, or been sorry, or upset to the point, you felt like death.

He was going through a great deal of mental distress. And in one sense, he knew he wished maybe I could die now, but that wasn't what was going to happen. He knew what was coming. So he said, Stay here and watch with me. You'll be here. And verse 39, he went a little further, and fell on his face, praying, saying, O my Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. Now, the Bible indicates he prayed for an hour. So here we have a verse summarizing what he said for an hour. So he talked to the Father. When he said this cup, I'm sure he enumerated what that cup pictured. And the suffering he was going to have to go through, the beating, the crucifixion, and all of this. So he said, If you can do it, let it pass, nevertheless, not my will.

And how many times do we, and have we probably many times, gone to God and asked God to intervene in a certain situation? And God doesn't. And after a while, we say, Father, whatever you will, that's what I'll do. This was Christ's attitude. You'll find here, it says, He fell on his face.

So he wasn't just praying with his hands clasped. He wasn't praying with his hands outstretched. He was prostrate on the ground. He fell flat on his face, praying on his knees, with his face to the ground, because he knew the cup of suffering that he was going to have to go through. Now, verse 40, Then he came to the disciples and found them asleep. And he said to Peter, What? Could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And that, in a nutshell, describes us all.

Describes the problem we all have. The flesh is weak. The Spirit is willing. We want to do what's right. We try to do what's right, but the flesh is weak. Again, a second time, he went away and he prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done. And he came and found them asleep, for their eyes were heavy. But this time, it's getting late. It's around 11 o'clock or so. So, it's late. They're sleepy. So he left them and went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

How much do we understand what he was going through? How much do we comprehend the difficulty in going through this? Why did he have to suffer so much in addition to just die?

A soldier could have taken a spear, a sword, a knife, killed him. That would have been it. Why did he have to go through the scourgy, the ridicule, the beating, everything that he went through that evening? Well, he went through all of this and he experienced emotions and agonies that other human beings go through. Perhaps not to the degree that he had to go through, but all of our sins, our sorrows, our pains were heaped upon him.

Now, he had never sinned, so he wasn't going through this because of his sins. He was doing it, number one, to be a merciful high priest, but also to experience the dread, the pain, the agony that men go through all the time. You think about somebody who's at war and realizes he's about to die. He's fighting and the agony that he goes through or a parent who hears that their child was just killed. What they go through. This is part of why Jesus spent those hours and Gethsemane praying and weeping and even sweating blood.

The Bible indicates because he dreaded what he was about to suffer. He knew what the penalty was for sin, and he was experiencing that without ever having sin. Sin brings pain and suffering, and so he's suffering not because of anything he did. So on that night he must have experienced some great apprehension, what we would call gut-wrenching stomach-churning dread that a human being would go through.

It would be like you walking out of this building if you knew that there was a mob outside of this building, and the mob is waiting for you. And they're out there and they're chanting your name. And that when you walked out of this building that the mob was going to grab you, they're going to strip you, start naked, they were going to beat you and club you and throw rocks at you, and they were going to beat you within an inch of your life, spit in your face, rip your skin off of your body, and leave you to die.

You know, none of us would be looking forward to that. We might be trying to slip out this back door and jump off the porch or something to be able to get away, because, you know, humanly speaking, we don't want to have to go through that. But you find that Jesus Christ did not run away from this. He asked the Father if there's some way that we can maybe soften this, not have to go through so much, but the Father said you are going to have to go through it.

And so Jesus Christ was willing to do so. So He faced this overwhelming, excruciating dread, pain, and suffering. Luke records in his account that an angel came down to strengthen him at this time because of what he was going through. Now, there's a valuable lesson that all of us can learn from this. Whenever we go through a trial and a test like this, that's not the time to stop praying and study. That's the time to double your effort, because Jesus Christ spent three hours here that evening getting Himself ready and preparing and asking for the spiritual strength He needed to face the trial He was going through.

And being strengthened, He rose from the prayer to face betrayal. Let's notice in verse 45. Verse 45, Then He came to His disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand. The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. So I am going to be betrayed. Rise up. Let's be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. Now, it's interesting when you study the geography and the layout of the area there that you can see right across the narrow valley to the walls of Jerusalem from Gethsemane to the temple in Jerusalem and the road coming out of the city.

It's no more than a few hundred yards away. And probably during the last hour that Christ was praying, sometime during that period of time, the mob of men came out. They were walking across the valley. Judas knew where Christ would go. Christ did not try to slip away. As he said here, Rise up, my betrayer is at hand. Let's go meet them. So instead of trying to run, flee, he went out to meet them.

And he could possibly see the torches snaking across the valley and the mob coming and hear the armor clanging. See the swords and all of that. He knew what was about to happen. In verse 47, it says, While he was still speaking, behold Judas, one of the twelve, with great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now his betrayer had given them a sign saying, Whomever I kiss, he's the one who sees him. And immediately Judas went up to Jesus and said, Greeting Rabbi and kissed him.

So this is the famous Judas kiss, or being betrayed. Rabbi means master or teacher. So facetiously he may have said this, but anyway he referred to him as his master or teacher. And he betrayed him. And Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come?

He didn't rail on him. You might remember the last Passover. Christ said, Whoever dips his hand with me in this dish and takes this sop or the piece of bread that's been dipped will betray me. Judas said, Is it I? And Christ said basically, Yes. So Judas knew that Christ knew that he was going to betray him. And so they both were well aware of this. I find it hard to imagine the depths of sadness that Christ may have had. He knew that Judas was going to do this. And Judas knew that Christ knew that he was going to do it. He doesn't condemn him. He calls him friend. And he says, Have you ever been betrayed in your life by someone? Have you ever had somebody turn against you? Somebody that you trusted? Somebody that you rely upon?

Then they turn around and they betray you. There's nothing that hurts or cuts in him more deeply than that. We've all been betrayed by people. Back in 95, I think we were betrayed by the leadership of the church. When they went a different direction, changed doctrine and teaching. So we've all experienced betrayal to one extent or another. But you find that they came up and it says they laid hands on Jesus and they took him. And in verse 55, in that hour, Jesus said to the multitude, Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to take me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple. You did not seize me. But all of this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

So all of their bragging, you know, we'll go with you, you know, we'll die for you. We're loyal. All that went out the window in the mob and the soldiers came along. John tells us that Jesus told the mob, since I'm the one you're looking for, let the rest of my disciples go. So, you know, they let them go. And what he was about to go through, he was going to have to face along. He didn't have support, didn't have all of his disciples, brothers and sisters, everybody there holding his hands and saying, we're with you. We'll do what we can, or encouraging him. The betrayal of Judas, of Jesus Christ, was part of his sacrifice because he had to know what it's like for us as human beings to be betrayed. Sin has consequences, does it not? Not only for the sinner, but sin affects the soul. One of the greatest acts of betrayal you see in our age and time is if you're married and your mate betrays you. That happens all the time, where you're married and you find out that your mate has gone out, begun to fool around with somebody else, they betrayed you. And you know what that betrayal feels like. Children find out what a betrayal feels like when adultery takes place, maybe a divorce takes place, and they've been betrayed. They were due a sound family life, and then they are abandoned. Well, Jesus Christ was abandoned by his disciples, and they turned their backs on him. So Jesus was arrested, he was betrayed, he was abandoned by his very closest friends, and then he was made victims of lies, where they lied about him. Have you ever had anybody lie about you, your actions, your motives, what you did, what you say? I think from time to time we've all experienced that. It's not a very pleasant feeling when that occurs. I think we've all gone through that, but this is what Jesus Christ went through. Notice verse 57. Now, they bring him in, and they've got to find something to criticize him, to betray him, well, let's face it, so that they can kill him. And those who laid hold of Jesus, verse 57, led him away to Caiapas, the high priests, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance.

To the high priest's courtyard. And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end. Now, the chief priests, the elders, all the council. So here's the Sanhedrin assembled together.

I want you to notice, salt false witnesses. That doesn't say that they salt the truth. They sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but found none. But even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. Now, they had to bring the false witnesses in one at a time.

None of their stories jived. So, remember, the Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses, something will be established. So they couldn't find two.

What this means is they found many people who lied about Jesus, but no two people's testimony was alike. They had to bring witnesses in and question them separately about this. But at last, you find two false witnesses came forward and said, this fellow said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and build it in three days. Now, this is not exactly what Christ said. You know, they twisted that around. But even if it were what he said, is that a reason to kill somebody? You might think he's crazy. Yeah, I can destroy this temple. I can build it again in three days. Well, he was talking, of course, about his own body. You destroy this temple. Three days later, he'd be resurrected. But that's not something that you would actually condemn somebody to death over. So you see how desperate they were. So finally, the high priest is getting pretty agitated by now. 62, the high priest arose and said to him, do you answer nothing? What is it? These men testify against you. But Jesus kept silent. The high priest answered and said to him, I put you under oath by the living God. Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus said to him, it is as you say it. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes, and he ripped his robe, saying, he has spoken blasphemy. What further need do we need of witnesses? Look now, you've heard his blaspheme. What do you think? And they answered and said, he is deserving of death.

So Jesus is convicted not even by the testimony of these false witnesses, but on the judge's interpretation of his own statements. And then you find, verse 67, they spat in his face, they beat him, others struck him with the palms of their hands, saying, prophesied to us Christ, who is the one who struck you? Mark's gospel added that they blindfold him at this time. So they blindfold him, they said, okay, if you're the Christ, tell us who hit you this time. Boom! Who hit you this time? And they would smack him, club him, and beat on him. Now, I want you to notice the scenario here. Jesus Christ appears in what is supposed to be a court of law. You have the highest court of law, the Sanhedrin, with the high priests there. You have judges, officials, and guards around. And is this conducted like a trial should be? What if you were accused of a crime? You go into the court, and the judge and the jury get up, and they don't have any evidence against you, but they go out and, you know, the judge says, go out and find some witnesses. You know, the prosecutor can't find anything to charge you with. Go out and find some witnesses against this fellow, and they bring them in, and, you know, maybe you try to defend yourself, you say something, they jump on you. Can you imagine in court of law today that people, you know, the guard there spits in your face? Yours get up and slap you around? They knock you down? They kick you? And, you know, they make fun of you? They ridicule you? You know, if anything like that happened, you would sue them for every penny they had. You know, you just don't do that, but this is what was going on here. Again, this is the kind of suffering that sin brings. Jesus felt the humiliation, the hurt, and the pain that comes as a result of this. Why did he have to go through this? Because sin brings humiliation. There are times that we sin, we do things wrong, and, you know, we are humiliated by it. Sin, by its very nature, hurts people. It hurts you, and it can hurt other people, and it can even hurt total strangers. So Jesus Christ went through the suffering, he went through the pain, that human beings are faced with.

Now, while all of this is going on, Peter is hanging around outside, he wants to see what's going to happen. Verse 69, Peter sat outside in the courtyard, and a serving girl came to him, saying, You also were this Jesus of Galilee. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you are saying. And when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who were there, This fellow was also a Jesus of Nazareth. But again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. And a little later, those who stood by came and said to Peter, Surely you are one of them, your speech betrays you.

Be like you going up north, saying, I'm a Northerner, and everybody, yeah, I'm a Northerner, and they hear how you speak. And they say, No, no, your speech gives you away, you're from the South. Well, his speech gave him away. So he began to curse and to swear, verse 74, saying, I did not know the man. Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the words of Jesus who had said to him, Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times. And so he went out, and he wept bitterly. You can imagine the shame that he felt at that time.

It was necessary that Jesus suffer denial from his friends, because it's one of the things that happens to us.

Might remember in Matthew, I think it's the 10th chapter, we won't turn there, but Christ said there's going to come a time in the future that when he calls people, that the members of their own household will become their enemies. Matthew 24 talks about how people will turn their backs on us and hate us for what we believe. And you find that Jesus Christ went through this.

But the one lesson you learn from what Peter and the apostles or disciples went through at this time, guess what? They repented. They changed. They didn't stay in that mode. Christ was resurrected. Three days later, he did appear to them, and they realized what he had said. They didn't understand the fact. He said, well, I'm going to die. Three days later, I'll be resurrected. That just never really sunk in. But when it happened, and they knew he was dead, they had seen it. And then they saw him resurrected, and he could walk through walls in and out, back and forth. They understood by that time. And so therefore, they were motivated. They had repented. So they changed. And you and I can change, too, brethren. We can change. We don't have to stay the same way. You know, Titus 1.16 shows that you and I can deny Christ by our works. And in works, they deny Him. When we have ourselves denied Christ, we do by our example how we live. We know what to do. We don't always do it. There is hope for us to turn around. We can change. We can be a different person. Now going on over here to chapter 27 in verse 1. When morning came, all the chief priests, elders, people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. When they bound Him, they let Him away, delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful, brought back to 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests, saying, I have sinned, I have betrayed innocent blood.

Now, maybe he didn't realize what was going to happen with Christ. Maybe he thought that they would beat Christ, shake a little sense into Him. I don't know, but he realized he'd made a terrible mistake here. He wanted to give the money back and say, let Him go.

But notice their reply. They said, what is that to us? You see to it. That doesn't mean anything to us. You go about your own business. Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and he went and hanged himself. So he went out and he hanged himself. You see, being sorry is not enough. Judas was sorry, but that didn't mean necessarily that he had changed. You see, what happens with sin is not necessarily punishment, but consequences. And there is a difference. Do you understand the difference between punishment and consequences?

God can punish us if He sees it is in our best interest. We might go through a trial. We might go through a test. And the reason God punishes us for sin is what? To turn us around. To get us to change. He doesn't want us to stay the same. He wants us in His family and His kingdom. So He will correct us to change our lives so that we don't keep repeating the same thing over and over.

But mostly what happens from sin is in punishment, but the natural consequences that follow on the heels of sin. And when it's done, in other words, when there are consequences, it just cannot be instantly undone in every case. Here's the action of Judas. He wanted his actions to be undone. He brought the silver back. He threw it down. He said, release him. But he couldn't do it. The consequences were there, and it was going to be played out.

Sin has consequences. And the only way that we can be delivered from the consequences is by the suffering of the shame and the blood of Jesus Christ. And we sin, there are consequences.

Somebody who goes through a... Well, I'll just use an example. Somebody gets drunk and has a wreck.

And he's all bunged up in the wreck. There are consequences. He may be sorry, but he wished that hadn't happened. But he did, and there are consequences to that. And so all of us go through certain consequences when we sin. And it can affect others, and it affects us. Let's notice in verse 6, the chief priest took the silver pieces and said, it's not lawful to put this in the treasury. They're the price of blood. So we find that they went out and bought the field where apparently he had hung himself, talking about Judas. And it's called the field of blood to this day, verse 8. And verse 11, let's notice, Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, Are you the king of the Jews? So Jesus said to him, It is as you say it, and while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Again, he's being accused, he's being lied about, he's being ridiculed, he's being slandered, he's being made fun of, but he doesn't respond. Then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear how many things they testify against you? And he answered him not one word. So the governor marveled greatly. Now, to feast, the governor was accustomed to releasing, to the multitude, one prisoner whom he wished. And at that time, there was a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Apparently, Barabbas was a murderer and a robber. So here's somebody everybody knew, he was notorious, committed all these crimes. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, Who do you want me to release to you? Barabbas or Jesus is called the Christ. For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy. See, Pilate wasn't dumb.

He knew that the chief priest looked on Christ as a competitor, that he had this big following, he had crowds, sometimes five, ten thousand, who followed him, and that he was gathering such a large gathering. And among the Pharisees, you know, those were sects, you find they were only a few thousand. There weren't that many who were card carrying Pharisees and card carrying Sadducees among the people. Pilate knew it was a setup, he knew it was a sham, so he thought, well, these people, if I give them this choice, they'll choose Barabbas. Well, of course, they didn't do that. Verse 19, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, have nothing to do with this just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him. But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Ever seen cowboy movies where crowd gets all worked up and they charge the sheriff's office, they're going to go hang whoever it is who's there? Well, this is the same thing. It's a mob scene. And the governor asked, which of the two do you want me to release? They said, Barabbas and Pilate said to them, what then shall I do with Jesus who's called to Christ? And they said, let him be crucified. So they wanted to crucify him, kill him, a horrible death. And the governor said, what evil has he done? But they cried out the more, let him be crucified.

When Pilate saw he could not prevail, he, you see, he was looking on this and he realized, here's a mob, they're getting worked up into a frenzy. He could lose control here. He didn't want a riot going on at this period of time. So he did what was politically correct. He turned him over. All the people answered in verse 25 and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Then he released Barabbas to them and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Now, I think we've all heard about scourging. This was a horrible punishment in itself. It was meant to leave a person maimed for life. A lot of people died as a result of the beating. They went through from a scourging. There was a professional Roman who was trained on how to do this. He was called a lyctor. He had a short, short whip with several strips of leather and embedded at the end of the leather were steel, ivory, glass, you know, anything that would cut, lacerate. And the lyctor would take this whip and he would whip it around the body. And just as the leather straps went around, he would yank it and would yank huge hunks of flesh out. It would lacerate and cut the body and he would systematically take a person from the head to the foot and beat them with this. It was an excruciating, painful, bloody type of beating.

David described it in Psalm 22, verse 17, when he said, talking about Christ, Psalm 22, 17, I can count all my bones. They look and they stare at me. So Christ was able to look down, he could see the bones. There's one time I've been able to look into my hand. I played football one time. Somebody stomped on my hand, didn't have a cleat on the bottom of his shoe, was just to stop there and split this hand wide open. I could see all the ligaments in there and you could feel like this and you could see everything in there. What do you think about Christ with the beating so bad that the Bible says that his face was marred unlike a man, didn't look like a man? And he could look at his bones, he could see the bones in his legs, in his arms, his hands, because of the beating that he went through. Now John's Gospel says, after the scourging, Pilate again brought Jesus before the crowd. He was hoping that that was it. But again, they cried out to crucify him. Verse 27, then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, gathered the whole garrison around him. They stripped him, put a scarlet robe on him, and when they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. And reading his right hand, they bowed the knees before him, mocking him, ridiculing him, making fun of him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spat on him, took the reed, and struck him on the head. So here's another round of beating, scourging, going on.

And Jesus Christ went through this. Brethren, when we take the bread, you see the minister take the unleavened bread and break that bread. Unleavened being symbolic of being sinless, Christ knew no sin. And to break that bread, that's what Christ's body was. It was broken. He did not have a broken bone, but his flesh was ripped, cut, and lacerated. It symbolized the bruise, the battering, and the beating that he went through. And in verse 31, when they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to be crucified. In verse 33, when they had come to a place called Golgotha, they said, that is said, the place of the skull that gave him sour wine, mingled with gold to drink.

But when he had tasted it, he would not drink. Well, a lot of times this was given as a mild anesthetic to help ease the pain that racked the body. But Jesus Christ did not go through that. He bore all of that pain. In verse 35 said, they crucified him. Now again, some of the most horrible treatment that Christ goes through, very little said about him. Now we know that the Romans had several ways of crucifying people. One was the upright pole, where the hands were over the head, wrist crossed, and the feet were crossed, and you know you are crucified in that fashion. The other is the t, or the tau, where your hands are out to the side, and again your legs are generally crossed. And then there was the wheel, where they would actually in a sense put them on a wheel, and you know they still be strung out like this, whichever the way they did it. You basically find that they didn't take a smooth round nail like we have this machine. It's a square nail. Normally it was driven through the wrist because if you put it through the hands, the weight of the body on that would rip, and they would fall down. So it's placed in the wrist, in the right place, and it goes through the nerves, you know, all of that area. It's excruciatingly painful, the same thing with the foot, and you're right at the top of the foot.

Most people died from suffocating because basically what you'd be doing, you couldn't breathe hanging like this, or even if your hands over your head because your lungs were constricted. You'd have to lift yourself up, and then there would be excruciating pain on the feet. Sometimes they had a small seat that you could try to sit on, and that's when they wanted to just leave them out there for days, and a person would be out in the sun, exposed to the elements, and there have been people gone through three days before they finally died from a crucifixion. Well, they crucified Christ, and it's one of the most horrible deaths that you can go through because the body is constantly writhing up and down to get breath. And then eventually you die. So they stripped him, they nailed him to the wooden vein, they raised him, they hung him there, and you find that he was humiliated, made fun of, they ridiculed him. You can read here, verse 36 through 44. They blasphemed against him, they mocked him, they said, if you're the son of God, come down. Show us you're the son of God. And even the robbers, there were two others who were killed with him or crucified with him. Even they reviled on him. And so he was made a public spectacle. Now, you have to realize that Golgotha was along one of the roads into Jerusalem, and a lot of people would surely have seen him hanging there for approximately six hours, coming and going in and out of Jerusalem. And this was a crucifixion. There are probably tens of thousands of people who saw Christ hanging there. Now let's switch over to John 19, in verse 25. John chapter 19, verse 29, because John adds some more details about this. In verse 25, it says, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, John, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciples, Behold your mother. And from that hour, that disciple, that would have been John, took her to his own home.

Many of you women here are mothers. How would you like to be standing off and see your son go through what Jesus Christ went through? Can you imagine the feelings that Mary had? And yet, Jesus Christ, even though he's in the afternoon, the sun's beating down on him, and his life is coming to an end, he had enough concern about his mother to make sure that she was taken care of. Now his brothers and sisters were still alive, and yet he did not commit his mother to them. You at that point. I don't know that Mary knew, probably didn't, that Jesus was going to be resurrected. And so here, very few members of those who were close associates of him were around. In verse 28, after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said, I thirst, because the Bible prophesied that. Verse 30, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said it is finished, bowing his head, he gave up the spirit. Therefore, because it was the preparation day that the body should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, and that Sabbath was a high day, first day of unleavened bread, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, that they might be taken away when the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and the other that was crucified with him. Now, the idea behind breaking the legs was to speed the process up. Because of the legs broken, you couldn't heave yourself up. And so, a person very quickly suffocated to death.

Death of crucifixion, generally, as I said, was by suffocation. Now, they would, a lot of times, take a club, and they would just smash the prisoners' legs. Now, the Bible says that Christ did not have a broken bone. So, we find in verse 33, when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. Verse 35, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, none of his bones shall be broken. And again another Scripture says, and they shall look on him whom they pierced.

So, John was an eyewitness to what Jesus Christ went through.

Why does John point this out? Because you find that there are a couple of translations, Lanzma translation being one of them, that indicate that there is a verse that possibly could have been left out in the book of Matthew, that Jesus Christ was still alive when the soldier pierced his side. See, one of the problems, if Christ had been dead for a little while, and then the soldier comes along, when you die, the pressure of the heart stops. There's no pumping of blood going on. And the blood begins to coagulate. And so you find that when they killed Jesus, blood came out and water came out. So apparently what killed Christ, and this would be following the symbolism of the sacrifices, Jesus bled to death. When a soldier crammed that spear into his side, he cried out. It's important that he bled to death because for 1400 years, every sacrifice was sacrificed, died how? By shedding his blood. That's why it was a sacrifice. You could offer it up. You'd bring it to the priest and offer it as an offering. But the sacrifice is taking the life of the animal. And they would cut the throat. They would take the head off of a bird. And you would bleed. Those animals would bleed. This is the way all sacrifices died. And all those sacrifices were a type of Jesus Christ. So if Jesus died by some other means, it does not fit the typology. It doesn't fit prophecy. Because in the Old Testament, it talks about how he poured out his soul unto death. So Jesus Christ died from shedding his blood. And he shed his blood so that you and I could have our sins forgiven. I would suggest this week. I haven't written here in my notes, but we are not going to have time. Go back and read Isaiah 53. Because Isaiah 53 describes what Jesus Christ went through. How he was beaten and how he was crucified. And that it's something that we should take personally. We should be thinking about. It says, he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people. Was he stricken? That his soul was offered up for sin? And then it talks about how he would bear the sins of he shall bear their iniquities or their sins. So you'll find that Jesus Christ, even as he was dying, made intercession also for those who were around him when he said, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. They don't realize what's going on here. And so he was willing to do that. Now Jesus Christ, as our high priest today, constantly makes intercession for us. We stumble. We fall. We don't always live up to what we know we should. We sin. But we can go to God and we know that we have a faithful high priest who understands what it's like to have lived in the flesh. And not because he sinned, but because of all of our sins and their penalties being placed on him, he experienced the suffering. And so therefore he can be a merciful and a faithful, compassionate high priest for us today. So brethren, he knows what we're going through. Do we know and understand and properly appreciate what Jesus Christ went through for us?