For the six weeks of the church season of Lent, as well as for “Holy Week” (the week before Easter), I will try to explore how fully invested the Lord Jesus was in regard to securing our salvation.  The penalty for our sin was no small thing, and it exacted a huge toll on him.  Yet he was determined to be our holy Substitute. 

Each week I’ll share some thoughts on yet another part of Jesus’ body which he committed to the cause.  These posts will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions.  I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!

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Regarding his future suffering, the pre-incarnate Jesus stated this through the prophet Isaiah, “I offered my back to those who beat me” (Isaiah 50:6).  Of course, we hear about his scourging every Lenten season.  (See Matthew 27:26, Mark 15:15, and John 19:1.)

And we fail to comprehend exactly how horrible this was.

In an article written by Doctor William. D. Edwards, with input from Wesley J. Gabel and Floyd Hosmer, we are provided a medical explanation of what that entailed.  Be forewarned, this is not for the squeamish.

“Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution, and only women and Roman senators or soldiers (except in cases of desertion) were exempt.  The usual instrument was a short whip (flagrum or flagellum) with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals.”

“For scourging, the man was stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post.  The back, buttocks, and legs were flogged either by two soldiers (lictors) or by one who alternated positions.  The severity of the scourging depended on the disposition of the lictors and was intended to weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse or death.”

“As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victim’s back with full force, the iron balls would cause deep contusions, and the leather thongs and sheep bones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues.  Then, as the flogging continued, 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.  The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross.”

Brutal flogging was standard before a Roman crucifixion.  The Lord limited the Jews to 40 lashes with their leather whips, but the Romans with their vicious flagrum observed no such limitations.  Their only priority was to leave the victim with sufficient strength to carry their crosses to the place of their execution. 

The fact that Jesus could not bear his cross suggests an extremely severe beating.  If you place any relevance on the Shroud of Turin, the blood traces on it showed the man wrapped in it endured between 100 and 120 “stripes,” mostly in groups of two or three. ([email protected]).

Regardless of your view on the Shroud, it does demonstrate the brutality of a scourging.  A study of the residue of the flogging wounds on the material reveal the following:

The marks are all over the trunk of the body, head, shoulders, and upper legs.  Most are on the back of the body, which would be consistent with tying the victim with his face toward a column.  However, there are also many traces on the chest, indicating that the cutting cords wrapped around his body.  There are no wounds on the forearms, almost certainly because they were raised above the head. 

“The lashes are in a fan shape, spreading out from two origins, one on each side of the body.  The center of the wounds inflicted from the right are a little higher than those inflicted from the left.  The probable explanation is that the executioner standing on the right was taller than the one standing on the left.  One of them showed a tendency to lacerate the legs” ([email protected]).

Our fully invested Savior willingly and lovingly offered up his back to that.

In fact, Jesus knew full well what awaited him.  He informed his disciples shortly before his suffering exactly what was about to transpire (Mt. 20:17-19).  Jesus simply stated the plan; he didn’t go into gory detail.  He didn’t have to.  Anyone living in the Roman world knew the specific implications of flogging and crucifixion.

Is it any wonder that Jesus as True Man begged his Heavenly Father in the Garden to remove this horrific suffering from him?  (Mt. 26:36-44).  Yet Jesus as True God was totally committed to winning our forgiveness and salvation.  Even to the point of having his back torn open and his muscles frayed.

Jesus as Man, knowing the Scriptures perfectly as God, must have found comfort in those passages like Isaiah 53, which showed his ultimate victory and glorious honor from his Father (vss. 10-12). 

Psalm 89 would have been another passage of assurance to him.  Written about the earthly David, some of the aspects of the psalm could only refer to the heavenly “David” (Jesus).  God the Father is speaking via Ethan the Ezrahite, and says this:

“I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. “

“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.”

“Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness — and I will not lie to David — that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky” (Psalm 89:27-37).

God’s sons and daughters (the people he created, loved and blessed) did violate his decrees and failed to keep his commands, so the Lord punished “their sin with the rod” and “their iniquity with flogging.”  But astoundingly, the One the Father punished was his own holy Son, Jesus!

Yet this truth remained; the Father states it unequivocally: “I will not take my love from him,” (from Jesus), and “his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me.”

Comforting words to Jesus, surely.  And comforting words to us as well.

What an amazing God, that he would offer his Son for us to endure the torture we deserved.  What a fully invested Savior, that he would willingly allow his back to be torn open so our sins would be torn away from us. 

What else can we say but an awestruck and heartfelt, “Thank you, Lord!”