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Q. What did Jesus suffer?

A. At His trial, Mark 15:19 tells us, "Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff." Then Jesus was flogged. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association states that "the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues. The lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. Pain and blood loss generally set the stage for circulatory shock."

In The Crucifixion of Jesus, Dr. Truman Davis describes crucifixion: "As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles. With these cramps comes the inability to push oneself upward. Air can be drawn into the lungs but cannot be exhaled. The person presses himself up to get a breath of air and then to release the pain of pulling on the nails he lets down and then up again and then down, until finally the person has no strength left and suffocates."

Why did Jesus have to suffer?

To pay for the sins of mankind. 1 John 4:10 says, "God … sent his Son to be the payment for our sin." We used to sing this chorus: "He paid a debt He did not owe. I owed a debt I could not pay." Why did He have to pay? To satisfy the demands of God's wrath.

Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God." Peace with God is the absence of anger. As much as He loves you, he hates your sin with a holy, burning hatred that you cannot comprehend. The only way He could embrace you was to take His hatred for your sin and make someone else pay for it, someone perfect. Since we're all sinners, He came Himself and died for us. That's the gospel: Jesus suffered to pay for the sins of mankind.

—James MacDonald pastors Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and teaches on the national radio program "Walk in the Word."

Credits: Adapted from—Preaching Today

Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.

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