PT-2 "The Ignorant Wicked" (Matt. 27:27-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/4/2024 9:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-2 “The Ignorant Wicked”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:27-37

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

 

            “32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

  

             “33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”

 

            In verse 27 we see the words the whole Roman cohort and a full Roman cohort amounted to 600 soldiers, and because this particular cohort served the Roman governor at his Praetorium at Fort Antonia in Jerusalem, it was probably composed of elite legionnaires.  MacArthur writes “They were not necessarily all, or even mostly, Italian, because Rome typically conscripted soldiers from among its occupied countries.  Because most men would be reluctant to fight against their own countrymen, they were frequently sent to neighboring regions that spoke the same or similar language.  We can be sure that none of this cohort was Jewish, because Rome had granted a special exemption of Jews from Roman military service.  It is likely that the contingent in Jerusalem was composed largely of Syrians, who spoke Aramaic, the most common conversational and trade language of Palestine.”  I find this very interesting and probably something that many who read over this passage did not even think about.

 

            MacArthur goes on to talk more about those who were involved in this wicked treatment of Christ.  “Because Pilate’s primary headquarters were in Caesarea, this cohort may have been stationed there, traveling from place to place with the governor as his military escort.  If so, they would have been even less familiar with Judaism than the average Roman soldier in Jerusalem and probably had never heart of Jesus.  To them, He was simply another condemned prisoner, whom they were free to abuse as much as they pleased, as long as he was not killed before the designated execution.  If they considered Jesus to be in any way unique, it was only in that He had apparently claimed to be some sort of king.  What they did to Him was therefore unrelated to religious or personal animosity.  Their torment of Jesus was wicked and inexcusable, but it was done out of spiritual ignorance.

            “Jesus’ face was swollen from the slaps and beatings He received from the Temple police and was covered with spittle from His Jewish tormentors.  He was bleeding profusely from the scourging, with terrible lacerations from His shoulders down, exposing muscles, ligaments, blood vessels, and perhaps even internal organs.  Because He had not spoken for the past hour or so, the soldiers may have considered Him mentally deranged and worthy only of ridicule.  They played Him as a fool, making sport of the comments they had overheard about His claim to kingship.

 

            “It did not matter to them that Jesus had never personally harmed them or that technically He was innocent according to Roman law.  They had been trained to obey orders, which frequently required killing and torture.  Jesus had been officially condemned, and no sense of justice or propriety, much less of mercy or compassion, tempered their cold-hearted entertainment at Jesus’ expense.  Although in an extreme way, they expressed the natural wickedness of every human heart that is ignorant of God.”

 

            That is about all I can handle this morning, and so we will continue looking at how John MacArthur describes this section of Scripture in our next SD.

 

8/4/2024 7:55 AM

 

PT-1 "The Life is Revealed" (1 John 1:1)

 

Evening Spiritual Diary For 8/3/2024 8:43 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-1 “The Life is Revealed”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                           Reference:  1 John 1:1

 

            Message of the verse:  “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life.”

 

            It is my desire for tonight to look at some of the things that Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe wrote about this verse.  I first have to say that Dr. Wiersbe usually has shorter comments on his commentaries, but I think that 1 John may have been one of his favorite letters to look at as his comments on this first verse are fairly long.

 

            He begins in his first paragraph to write “As you read John’s letter, you will discover that he enjoys using certain words, and that the word ‘manifest’ is one of them.  ‘And the life was manifested’ (1 John 1:2), he says.  This life was not hidden so that we have to search for it and find it.  No, it was manifested—revealed openly.”  Now keep in mind that Wiersbe usually used the KJV of the Bible.

 

            Wiersbe asks a couple of questions that will be good for all of us to answer and these questions are “If you were God, how would you go about revealing yourself to men?  How could you tell them about, and give them, the kind of life you wanted them to enjoy?”

 

            Some people will probably have different answers to these two questions, and I think that one of the reasons would be what a person thinks about who God really is before they can truly answer these questions.  People for sure have different opinions on who God really is and some wonder if God really exists.  Now let us take for granted that God truly exists and when one searches the Word of God they will find out that God has attributes to help us know Him better.  I am going to give you a website that will take you to a book that explains more about the different attributes of God, and you can actually read it free online.  https://bible.org/series/joy-knowing-god.  The Joy of Knowing God is the name of the book and it is written by the late Richard L. Strauss.  I have read this book a couple of times and have even taught part of it in a summer Sunday school class.  I can certainly say that it is worth the read as he explains the attributes of God in a way that one can understand them.

 

            In Romans 1:20 we read: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” This verse speaks of God’s creation, however creation alone, could never tell us the story of God’s love.  God has also revealed Himself much more fully in His Word, the Bible, from where you can find out about His attributes.  But God’s final and most complete revelation is in His Son, Jesus Christ, for Jesus said “He that has seen Me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

 

            Now since Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself, that means He has a very special name:  “The Word of Life” (1 John 1:1).

 

            Now let us look at John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Now I may have mentioned that in the early centuries of the church age there were some who were wondering if the Apostle John really wrote this letter, but here is a convincing proof that he indeed write it.

 

            Dr. Wiersbe goes on to ask “Why does Jesus Christ have this name?  Because Christ is to us what our words are to others.  Our words reveal to others just what we think and feel.  Christ reveals to us the mind and heart of God.  He is the living means of communication between God and men.  To know Jesus Christ is to know God.”  “8 Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:8-9).

 

            Now as we continue to think about this we cans see in 1 John 1:3 that John makes no mistake in his identification of Jesus Christ, as Jesus is the Son of the Father—the Son of God “what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”  John warns us several times in his letter not to listen to the false teachers who tell lies about Jesus Christ, and these false teachers are telling these same lies today.  “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).  “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:2-3).  If a man is wrong about Jesus Christ, he is wrong about God, because Jesus Christ is the final and complete revelation of God to men.

 

8/3/2024 9:34 PM 

 

           

PT-1 (of many) "The Ignorant Wicked" (Matt. 27:27-37)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/3/2024 9:08 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus: PT-1 “The Ignorant Wicked”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:27-37

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

 

            “32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

  

             “33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”

 

            We begin what will take us many days to get through this section.  Now I just posted on my other blog a section from Colossians 3:16 and in that post I mentioned that at that time, (May of 2017) I was studying also the book of John and spent weeks going over the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and spoke of the emotions that I had when I studied the crucifixion, and as I have been studying the crucifixion from Matthew’s gospel these same emotions have come upon me.  This is a difficult section of verses to study when you realize that you are the one that caused Jesus Christ to go through what He went through to save me from my sins.  I should have been the one hanging there on the cross, but because of the great love that Christ has for me He took my place there on that awful cross and in the three dark hours when the Father was separated from Jesus He was taking my punishment in those three hours so that I did not have to take it.  There is no greater love than when a man lays his life down for a friend.

 

            MacArthur begins this very long section by writing “The ignorant wicked were the callous Roman soldiers who actually performed the crucifixion under orders from Pilate, who finally had succumbed to the intimidation of the Jewish religious leaders.  The Roman governor had publicly declared Jesus’ innocence several times, but for fear of a riot that almost certainly would have cost his career and possibly his life, he capitulated to the execution.  He had perverted Roman justice by agreeing to convict a man whom no one was able to legitimately charge with a crime against the state.  He had sinned against his own convictions, integrity, and conscience, and against the truth.  He bargained his eternal soul for temporary security.”

 

            Now as we think of the Jewish leaders who even in a worse way had perverted not only scriptural principles of justice but their own rabbinical traditions.  Now although they had been unable to properly charge Jesus with sin against God, they were very determined to destroy Him, whatever the cost to Scripture, justice, or righteousness.

 

            Now as we look at verse 26 “Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified,” we can see that the soldiers were under Pilate’s orders to scourge and crucify Jesus, however they exhibited their own wickedness by far exceeding what basic duty required.  As they took into the Praetorium, they decided to make public sport of their prisoner and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him in order to watch.

 

            Lord willing we will continue looking at this awful scene in the next SD.

 

8/3/2024 9:31 AM

PT-2 "Intro to 1 John 1:1-4

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/2/2024 10:26 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  PT-2 “Intro to 1 John 1:1-4”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 1:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life —  2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —  3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”

 

            It is my desire to finish this introduction to the first four verses of this first chapter of 1 John, and as we will see when these verses are written about later on that they are very important verses.

 

            I want go on to quote what John MacArthur has to say in his commentary on the introduction to verses 1-4.  He writes “The writers of Scripture, on the other hand, were absouletly certain of what they believed and, under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, wrote with a clarity and boldness that makes the message of salvation in its fulness understandable to the regenerated and illuminated mind.  Still, the proper sense of dogmatism is utterly contrary to today’s relativistic attitudes, and those who hold it are consistently condemned as insensitive, unloving, and anti-intellectual.  The reality is that those who deny Scripture’s clarity are likely motivated by rebellion against its clear message of sin and righteousness (cf. John 3:20).”  I will now insert John 3:20 before I go on with MacArthur’s commentary.  “"For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”  “Denying that the Bible can be understood gives false comfort to those who do not like the truth it reveals.  In contrast, those who love the truth are quick to seek it out and apply it to their lives (John 3:21).”  “21 “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.’”  “Such God-honoring adherence to divine, absolute truth is precisely what the apostle John exalts in his first epistle as the evidence of genuine salvation.

 

            “The teaching of this epistle may be divided into three categories:  theological certainty regarding the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ (2:1-2, 22; 5:1, 20), moral certainty regarding the commandments of God (2:4, 7, 29; 3:9, 22), and relational certainty regarding love (2:10; 4:7, 21; 5:2-3). 

 

            “Consistent with his firm commitment to the certainty of divine truth, John dispensed with all introductory amenities—he did not even name himself as the author, nor did he identify his audience.  Rather, he immediately launched into writing the Spirit-inspired truth.  He began by presenting five certainties about the person and work of Christ:  The Word of Life is unchangeable, historical, communicable, relational, and joyful.”

 

            With that outline we will begin to look at the first section, “The Word of Life Is Unchangeable,” in the next SD, Lord willing.

 

8/2/2024 10:48 PM

Intro to Matt. 27:27-44

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/2/2024 8:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                  Focus:  “Intro to Matthew 27:27-44”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:27-44

 

            Message of the verses:  “27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29  And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

 

32 As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

  

             33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. 35 And when they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments among themselves by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. 37 And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, "THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS." 38 At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross." 41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 “HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’" 44 The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.”

 

            When I read these very sad and difficult verses which speaks of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ it does sadden me very much, and one of the reasons that it saddens me is because as I read them I know that He went through this for me and for anyone who puts their trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation. 

 

            As we read about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in the New Testament gospels the writers do not write about what really happens to a person who is crucified, but in the Old Testament book of Isaiah and the last part of chapter 52 and the entire 53^rd chapter along with the 22^nd Psalm one can really see what crucifixion is about and what happens to a person who is executed in this way.  David wrote Psalm 22 and crucifixion was not even used or invented at the time of his writing it. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “The crucifixion of Jesus Christ was the climax of redemptive history, the focal point of God’s plan of salvation.  God’s redeeming work culminated in the cross, where the Lord Jesus bore the sins of the world.  But also in the crucifixion of Christ the wickedness of man reached its apex.  The execution of the Savior was the vilest expression of evil in human history, the utter depth of man’s depravity.  The death of Jesus Christ was therefore the supreme revelation of the gracious love of God while also being the ultimate expression of the sinfulness of man.”  I think that this highlighted part of MacArthur’s commentary is the best way that I have ever heard of explaining about the crucifixion in both the awfulness of it and the necessity of it, for yes it was necessary for this to happen for without it there would be no salvation for anyone.

 

            MacArthur goes on to write “And whereas John’s gospel focuses on the crucifixion  primarily from the perspective of God’s redemptive love and grace, Matthew’s focus is primarily from the perspective of man’s wickedness.  Ma’s wickedness attempted to kill Jesus shortly after His birth, tried to discredit His teaching, and made every effort to mislead and corrupt His disciples.  Man’s wickedness had betrayed Him, denied Him, arrested, maligned, and battered Him.  But the incomparable manifestation of man’s wickedness was in His crucifixion.

 

            “David Thomas wrote:

 

‘[For thousands of] years wickedness had been growing.  It had wrought deeds of impiety and crime that wrung the ages with agony, and often roused the justice of the universe to roll her fiery thunderbolts of retribution through the world.  But now it had grown to full maturity, it stands around this cross in such gigantic proportions as had never been seen before; it works and enormity before which the mightiest of its past exploits dwindle into insignificance and pale into dimness.  It crucifies the Lord of life and Glory (The Gospel of Matthew [Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1979 (reprint of 1873 edition)], p. 536).’

 

            MacArthur goes on “Jesus’ enemies so hated Him that even His death seemed to be a disappointment, because it ended their opportunity to spew venom on Him even as He suffered the agony of crucifixion.  The heartless intensity of the evil words and deeds of those who participated in His death beggar description. 

 

             “Matthew 27:27-44 portrays four groups of evil people at the crucifixion who derided and abused Christ:  the ignorant wicked (vv. 27-37), the knowing wicked (v. 38), the fickle wicked (vv. 39-40), and the religious wicked (vv. 41-44).”

 

            Lord willing, we will begin to look at “The Ignorant Wicked” in the next SD, and I have to say that we will be camped out on this section for many days.

 

8/2/2024 8:48 AM

 

 

PT-1 "Intro to 1 John 1:1-4"

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/1/2024 7:14 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to 1 John 1:1-4

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                        Reference:  1 John 1:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life —  2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us —  3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.”

 

            Warren Wiersbe in his commentary on 1 John entitles his first chapter “IT’S REAL” which covers the first four verses just like John MacArthur’s commentary.  He entitles his first chapter, covering the first four verses “Certainties of the Word of Life.”  I have mentioned that I will mostly be looking at MacArthur’s commentary as I write these Spiritual Diaries, but will from time to time look at what Warren Wiersbe has to say too.

 

            Think for a moment about this first statement that John MacArthur writes as he begins his commentary on 1 John.  “We live in an era that looks with suspicion on any type of certainty or conviction about the truth.”  I have to totally agree with that statement as truth today for most people living in the 21^st century is what they want it to be.  For instance today as I look at what is going on in the Olympic Games going on from France that a young girl was to box a male who says that he is female.  Any one with an ounce of common sense knows that this is not the truth, that just to think that you are a female when you were born a male is not only a lie, but ridiculous.  The Word of God is truth, the Lord Jesus Christ is truth as he said “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:1).  MacArthur goes on to say “Our society has abandoned the idea of absolutes, choosing instead to arbitrarily grant equal validity to every opinion and philosophical musing.  Sadly, today’s church, influenced by the surrounding culture, has fallen prey to an inclusivism that tolerates seemingly any and every viewpoint, except dogmatism.  In the realm of biblical interpretation, for instance, a significant new movement is gaining ground that says that no one can know for sure what the Bible means.  According to this emerging viewpoint, the Bible is so obscure that anyone who exegetes Scripture should offer nothing more than a cautious, ‘humble,’ open –minded opinion regarding the text’s meaning.  But such radical, unwarranted skepticism blatantly ignores the Bible’s own teaching that Christians not only can, but must, know the truth (John 8:32; cf. Pss. 19:8; 119:105; Prov. 22:21; Isa. 29:24; Luke 1:4; 1 Tim. 4:3; 2 Peter 1:12, 19; 1 John 2:21; 4:6; 2 John 1).  Thus, to claim that the meaning of Scripture is unknowable is to directly attack the divinely designed clarity of the Bible; it is, in essence, to accuse God of being unable to clearly reveal Himself and His truth to humanity.  The inevitable result of such arrogance—for those who embrace it—is the loss of certainly and confidence about the rich and essential doctrinal truths of the Christian faith.”  

 

            Not take some time to maul over in your mind the highlighted section above as perhaps you may not have thought about the Bible in that way.  Why would the Lord, through His Holy Spirit have the Bible written if He did not chose for mankind to understand it.  Now let me make this clear and that is that the Holy Spirit is the One who inspired the human writers to write what He wants to be written.  He uses the personally of writers to be sure, but He is the One who inspired the writers.  Another thing to understand is that the Bible was written for believers as once a person in the church age which we are now living in becomes a born-again-believer that the Holy Spirit then comes into his or her life to lead them, and part of that is to help them understand the Word of God.  I am not saying that there are true believers who disagree with other believers about certain passages, but if we follow what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 which says in the NASB95 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” Now Lord willing I want to finish the introduction to this section in the next SD.

 

8/1/2024 7:53 PM

PT-3 "The acquiescence of the Governor" (Matt. 27:24-26)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/1/2024 8:31 AM

 

My Worship Time                                             Focus: PT-3 “The Acquiescence of the Governor”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 27:24-26

 

            Message of the verses:  “24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves." 25 And all the people said, "His blood shall be on us and on our children!"26 Then he released Barabbas for them; but after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”

 

            MacArthur writes “The multitude of perhaps several thousand Jews who stood outside the Praetorium made their verdict in behalf of all Israel.  It was that verdict, acknowledged by all the other unbelieving Jews through their silence that caused the branch of Israel to be broken off the tree of God’s redemptive blessing (Rom. 11:17).  It is no wonder that since that fearful day, as a nation and as individuals, unredeemed Jews have been under the chastening hand of God.

 

            “At the end of Jesus’ second hearing before Pilate, the governor’s intent had been to ‘punish Him and release Him’ (Luke 23:16).  The Jews would not settle for mere punishment no matter how severe.  They insisted on death.  Therefore, after he released Barabbas according to the wishes of the crowd, Pilate had Jesus scourged and delivered…to be crucified.

 

            “The whip used for scourging had a short wooden handle, to the end of which were attached several leather thongs.  Each thong was tipped with very sharp pieces of metal or bone.  The man to be scourged was tied to a post by the wrists high over his head, with his feet dangling and his body faught.  Often there  were two scourgers, one on either side of the victim, who took turns lashing him across the back.  Muscles were lacerated, veins and arteries were torn open, and it was not uncommon for the kidneys, spleen, or other organs to be exposed and slashed.  As would be expected, many men died of scourging before they could be taken out for execution.  We do not know the full extent of Jesus’ wounds, but He was so weakened by them that He was not able to carry His own cross (Mark 15:21).

 

            “Despite the accusatory verbiage of the tragic night, it was not really Jesus who was on trial, but the rest of the world.  “The Jewish religionists condemned themselves as they viciously demanded His crucifixion along with their leaders.  Herod condemned himself as he mocked the King of kings.  Pilate condemned himself as he willingly allowed an innocent man to be put to death, choosing the world above the Son of God.

 

            “And through that ridicule, scorn, and blood, the sinless Son of God was still further exalted.” 

 

            I have to say that this was not pleasant to write, however it was necessary for Christ to die to take away my sins, and for that I am thankful, and I praise my Savior and Lord!!

 

8/1/2024 8:54 AM