More Than Conquerors

Part 2

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.  There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  

You are my friends if you do what I command”  

(John 15:12-14). 

Part 2 

In the last entry, we discussed some of the natural and spiritual aspects of some of the abuse that Jesus endures prior to his crucifixion. Starting with our key verse was, “12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command” (John 15:12-14). In this next segment, I want to focus on the scourging that Jesus received and what that really means. 

The usual scourging instrument was a short whip with several single or braided leather thongs of irregular 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 (known in ancient Rome as lictors who were attendants on chief magistrates), who preceded them carrying the fasces [a bundle of rods containing an ax with the blade projecting, borne before Roman magistrates as an emblem of official power]  https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fasces and whose duties included executing the sentences of criminals, (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lictor) 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 internal 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 set the stage for circulatory shock. The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross. After the scourging, the soldiers often taunted their victim. (retrieved May 15, 2022 from,  https://www.cbcg.org/scourging-crucifixion.html, Edwards, William D MD, Department of Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Gabel Wesley J., MD March 21, 1986 ) (Scourging and Crucifixion in Roman Tradition, Truth of God: Restoring Original Christianity Today , JAMA).   

The exact number of lashings that Jesus received has been debated.  If the Romans followed Jewish law, then the most that Jesus received would have been 40.  According to Deuteronomy 25:3, KJV “Forty stripes may be given him, but not more, lest, if one should go on to beat him with more stripes than these, your brother be degraded in your sight.”   

The Roman scourge, also called the “flagrum” or “flagellum” was a short whip made of two or three leather (ox-hide) thongs or ropes connected to a handle. The leather thongs were knotted with a number of small pieces of metal, usually zinc and iron, attached at various intervals. The metal pieces also ripped the skin (retrieved May 18, 2022, from https://bible-history.com/past/flagrum, The Roman Scrouge, Jewish History). According Matthew 20:19, (KJV),  “And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify [him]: and the third day he shall rise again.” It was the Romans who carried out the sentence, therefore administered punishment according to their method. (KJV, “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. John 19:1.”)  Based on this, let us get a picture in our minds and heart of Jesus’ skin shredded by the metal in the whip.  Although we do not know how many times He was struck with the whip, according to Isaiah 53:5, we do know that it was through this act our healing was sealed. ^“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed”.  

As stated in the above paragraph, Jesus’ skin was shredded by the scrouging, thus exposing His blood.  If we look at this from a spiritual point of view, that Jesus’ or the Body of Christ’s diseases, whether it be physical, mental, or spiritual.  Bleeding can also wash out the impurities to keep out an infection. By Jesus shed blood, the Bible states in Matthew 26:28 “for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” and, therefore, not only cleansing physically, but is symbolic to cleanse us spiritual as well.  

According to https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/skin/, skin can be defined as “flesh or nakedness.”  If we want to look closer, “nakedness” according to Strong’s Concordance is defined as “bare” (6172. Ervah).  According to John W. Ritenbaugh, Leadership and Covenants (Part Seven), nakedness depending on the context, the terms can figuratively indicate innocence, defenselessness, vulnerability, helplessness, humiliation, shame, guilt, or judgment.(https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/752/Spiritual-Nakedness.htm).  

In an article from May 23, 2022 (https://renner.org/article/scourged/) about scrounging, it states that this loss of blood caused the victim’s blood pressure to drop drastically. Because of the massive loss of bodily fluids, a person’s body would experience excruciating thirst, often faint from the pain and eventually would go into shock. Frequently, the victim’s heartbeat would become so irregular it would bring on cardiac arrest.     

Earlier, I mentioned that during scrouging, the individual is often stripped naked adding to the humiliation.  When Adam and Eve sinned, their eyes were opened (Genesis 3:6–7), which means they had a new awareness that they were naked. The accompanying shame propelled them to fashion the very first clothing—they sewed fig leaves together to try to cover their bodies. So, even from the beginning, clothing has symbolized the need to cover our sin and shame. God, in His mercy, killed an animal and made garments for Adam and Eve from the skin of the animal (Genesis 3:21). This act of God serves as a picture of our inability to effectively atone for our own sin. The fact that an animal had to die—blood had to be shed—in order to cover Adam and Eve’s shame is a foreshadowing of the later sacrifice of Christ.(https://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-clothing.html). After being exposed during the scourging, after the soldiers finished mocking Him by wrapping him in a purple robe. (According to Keven Conner in his book, Interpreting the Symbols and Types, purple is a color of royalty page 157).  Spiritually speaking, the government was stripping away Jesus’ authority given to Him.  (John 5:27 KJV) “And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”  The final time when Jesus stripped naked was when He was nailed to the cross and His garments. Hebrews 12:2 “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”   This scripture  refers to the cross, the shame of dying the death of a criminal who was accounted as accursed by God by his executioners (Hebrews, comment on Hebrews 12:2, retrieved June 17, 2022 from, https://truediscipleship.com/was-jesus-actually-naked-on-the-cross-2/ Was Jesus actually Naked on the Cross?, True Discipleship June 17, 2022).  When Jesus was taken down off the cross His physical body was wrapped in linen, ( Matthew 27: 57- 60, “57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: 58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. 59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed. 61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulcher”.)  

This public humiliation and the scourging were much for a person to endure, and Jesus did that for each person. The images that we see are not even close to what Jesus went through and yet He knew that He had to endure to get the cross, because He knew what His ultimate destiny was and that was to pay the ultimate price and that was to give up His life for as a price for our sin (“For the wages of sin is death” Romans 6:23). Jesus clearly taught that sinners were condemned in sin and would perish and go to hell if they didn’t believe in Him as their Savior (John 3:16-18). 

I would like to personally invite you to avoid this punishments and accept Jesus into your heart and allow Him your Lord and Savoir. Just reappeat this prayer:

“Dear God, I want to be a part of your family. You said in Your Word that if I acknowledge that You raised Jesus from the dead, and that I accept Him as my Lord and Savior, I would be saved. So God, I now say that I believe You raised Jesus from the dead and that He is alive and well. I accept Him now as my personal Lord and Savior. I accept my salvation from sin right now.

I am now saved. Jesus is my Lord. Jesus is my Savior. Thank you, Father God, for forgiving me, saving me, and giving me eternal life with You. Amen!” 

Jesus willingly when through everything, just to get to the cross and pay the ultimate price so that you can live.