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If asked how Jesus saved us, most people would probably answer, "He died for our sins!" That is true, for the hope of our salvation
rests upon the glorious fact that the Son of God came in the flesh and died for our sins (Mt. 1:21, 23). The results of sin are numerous,
but its most profound consequence is the penalty of death. In the beginning God announced this alarming fact to Adam, saying, "...But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen.
2:17). The New Testament confirms this truth by the words of Paul, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). Many are now the children of God by grace, because Jesus died to pay our sin debt and thereby
saved us from the eternal wages and penalty of sin.
While we often focus our attention upon the death of Jesus, we sometimes forget the very important fact that Christ suffered before
He died. The sufferings of our Saviour are a very vital part of Bible teaching and are inseparably linked to His death. Jesus did not just
give up life and die a peaceful death; instead, He suffered untold pain and agony. In our behalf the blessed Saviour suffered, bled, and at
last died. How important are His sufferings? No doubt they are far more significant than we have imagined. Notice these words, "For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit ..." (1 Peter 3: 18). It is the objective of this study to consider some of the sufferings of our Saviour. It is impossible
for us to consider all the sufferings which He endured or to comprehend the severity of those which He experienced, but, since
many of them are listed for us in the Bible, we shall take a look at some of them.
First let us think about the sufferings He endured because of the sacrifices He made. It was certainly a sacrifice for Jesus to leave heaven
and dwell in a world filled with sin. He gave up the presence of the Father, the company of angels, and the riches of glory and in exchange
endured a life among sinful men. We can only imagine the joys of heaven as a place with no sins, sickness, sorrow, tears, or death (Rev.
21:4). Though Jesus knew the reality of that glorious abode from eternity past, yet He left it for a trouble,filled life on earth. Surely
we can acknowledge that there was suffering in that sacrifice.
In the suffering of sacrifice, He exchanged wealth for poverty. We know very little of His childhood, but we do know that He was raised
in the humble surroundings of a carpenter's home. Paul wrote, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). As He reached manhood and began His public
ministry, He had no home in which to rest His weary body. How awful it must have been to possess less than birds and foxes (Luke
9:58), when once He had enjoyed better than the best of this world. It was only part of the sufferings of the Saviour.
There were also sufferings inflicted upon Him by others. Born of a virgin, living in a carpenter's home, He was misunderstood at the
early age of twelve. It was evident that Mary and Joseph did not understand His behavior for they asked, "...Son, why hast thou thus
dealt with us?" (Luke 2:48). No doubt this very unusual child was subjected to mistreatment both by His peers and by adults who failed
to understand His real identity.
Perhaps this suffering seemed inconsequential when compared to the injustice which He endured as a man. The dark hours of persecution
and crucifixion lay ahead of Him; jealousy and resentment filled the hearts of many who knew Him. Satan fanned the coals in men's
hearts into flames against this just and righteous Son of God. The first biblical prophecy of Jesus revealed the work of Satan against Him.
God said to Satan, "...And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shall bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). The seed of the woman referred to Jesus and the seed of the serpent had reference to Satan.
Because of the work of Satan the hearts of many would turn against Jesus, even to the point of conspiring about His death (Mt. 26:3-4;
Mk. 15:8-11; and Luke 23:2,5, 10,23). From their cruel hearts the events of bodily suffering began to unfold.
Though innocent of the crimes of which He had been accused, He was beaten with a Roman scourge (Mt. 27:26).This scourge was usually
constructed of three strands of leather attached to a wooden handle. The leather was often reinforced with bits of metal which would cut
and tear the flesh. Thus was the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled. "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" (Is. 50:6). He was delivered to a band of soldiers who stripped Him of His clothes (Mt.
27:27-28). How humiliating it would have been for any of us; how much more humiliating it was for the King of Kings! The soldiers
evidently pulled out parts of His beard, and later they pressed in place a crown of thorns (Mt. 27:29-31). Because we have small thorns and
briars in our section of the country, it is extremely difficult for us to understand the pain caused by long, stiff, sharp, thorny bushes
plaited into a crown and forced down on His head until the thorns ripped and punctured the flesh of our Saviour's face. To the painful
crown of thorns they added mockery and at last physical abuse by spitting on Him and beating His head with a stick. Oh! how He must
have suffered, and yet it was not over. He was taken to Goigotha and was crucified by being nailed to a Roman cross (Mt. 27:31-35).
It is impossible for us to imagine the pain of such an experience. Most of us could not push a sharp needle through our hand; the pain would
be to severe. Yet our Lord's flesh was pierced by large Roman nails intended to inflict suffering on the worst of criminals. Both hands
and feet were nailed to the cross and Jesus was lifted up to die slowly and painfully. It is said that as the body slowly looses blood it increases
the work of the heart, which in turn is hindered because of pressure in the chest cavity that is created by the position of the body on the
cross. At last, regardless of pain, the person crucified must lift his suffering body, and this process goes on for what seems an eternity,
until finally death is welcomed as a friend. Jesus suffered and then died in this horrible manner which was described so vividly in Ps.
22:13-18 and Isaiah 53:3-9.
As awful and indescribable as those sufferings were, they are not all that He endured. I am sure that it was difficult for Him to be
sentenced for crimes which He did not commit, to suffer even though He was innocent, and to die such a horrible death; but I am equally
convinced that His worst sufferings were those of the soul, not the body. Oh, what He must have suffered when He became sin for
us! It is written of Him, " ...Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto
righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed" (l Peter 2:24). He not only bore our sins; He became our sins! "For he hath made him to
be sin, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). At that moment when He became sin
for us, His Father turned away and Jesus cried, "My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mt. 27:46). We can never know what
sufferings the presence of sin brought to our Saviour. He had not sinned from all eternity. His righteous and holy being had never
known the horrors of sin until that moment on the cross. It must have been worse for Him than all other sufferings combined, but He
willingly endured it for us.
Though we are removed from those scenes of suffering by almost two thousand years, let us never forget them nor the Saviour who
endured them. May we endure afflictions and count it a happy privilege to suffer for Him (Acts 5:41). My friends, most of us have
endured little or no affliction in our pursuits of service; therefore, we should willingly withstand the inconveniences, the hardships, and
even pain so that we may live a life that will glorify the Saviour who suffered so much for us.
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