Calvary Baptist Church

Calvary Baptist Church, Grenada, MS, USA

Holding to the truths embraced by Baptist for centuries.

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ is a subject of never-ending interest to all who have been saved by the grace of God. That the one who had created this world could and would die for sinners is a wondrous mystery. He who was the Son of God had to become human even to be capable of death (Heb. 2:9,14). That He would be crucified - the most excruciating, the most shamefully humiliating death - for us reflects a love which is beyond our fullest comprehension. Oh, the wonder of it all! Christ suffered for us! (1Peter 2:21) Let us think of His sufferings in three aspects: (1) Christ’s sufferings were real, (2) Christ’s sufferings were required, and (3) Christ’s sufferings were rewarded.

Christ's sufferings were real. Christ's death was no death by proxy. 1 Peter 2:24 says "He bore our sins in his own body on the tree...". His sufferings were intensely real. There were physical sufferings, mental sufferings, and spiritual sufferings. First think of His physical sufferings. Before Annas and Caiaphas, before Pilate and Herod, and finally before Pilate again, our Lord suffered. He was spat upon; He was struck; He was beaten (Mark 14; Matt. 26:67). Isaiah prophesied this long ago when he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Isaiah 50:6, “I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting.” One cannot but read Matthew’s, Mark’s, Luke’s, and John’s accounts of Jesus’ trials and crucifixion and see how much our Lord physically suffered. Not only did they do these things that Isaiah spoke of, but also Herod’s soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and thrust it down on His head. Our dear Saviour wore a crown of thorns that we might wear a crown of glory. They gave Him a reed - a mock scepter - not realizing that the hand that held the reed was the hand that ruled the world. They mockingly bowed before Him, and called Him King of the Jews. They struck Him on the head repeatedly with the reed (Matt. 26:30-31). They didn’t realize that God has ordained that one day “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father" (Phil. 2:10- 11). Finally, they cruelly nailed His hands and His feet to a cross and thrust that cross into the ground lifting up our Saviour between heaven and earth. They did not know that he had said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” ( John 3:14).

Second there were mental sufferings. When the Roman soldiers came for Him His disciples all forsook Him and fled (Matt. 26:56). Before Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin the priests, scribes, and Pharisees taunted and ridiculed Him. Before Pilate and Herod the crowds cried “Crucify Him, Crucify Him” The soldiers stripped Him and put a purple robe upon him. They bowed to him and cried in derision, “Hail King of the Jews.”(Mark 15:17-18). The throng around the cross cried, “If you are the Son of God come down from that cross.” (Matt 27:39-40) Again, we hear them crying “He saved others, Himself He could not save.” They did not know that He could have called ten thousand angels to save Him or used His own mighty power if He had wanted. The two thieves also cried “If thou be the Christ save thy self and us.” ( Matt 27: 41-44). Most chilling, we hear Him cry “My God, my God why has thou forsaken me?” As He was being made sin for us He was separated from the Father. He was forsaken for a short time so that we might never be forsaken at any time.

Third, there were spiritual sufferings. We can understand something of the physical sufferings and the mental sufferings of our Lord, but we can little understand the depth of the spiritual sufferings of our Saviour. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 53 “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to make His soul an offering for sin.”(Isaiah 53:10). God did not lessen the penalty for our sins one stroke. All that we were due to suffer for an eternity for our sins, Christ suffered as our substitute (Romans 5:6,8) He not only bore our punishment, but He bore our guilt. How fearful must have been the pressure of that stupendous weight, “ the sin of the world!” How deep must have been the darkness and loneliness of those hours as He who knew no sin was being made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). Can we ever thank Him or praise Him, or love Him half enough for what He suffered for us? In a future article, we shall consider that not were His sufferings real, but that also they were required and rewarded.

Larry Windham