By His Stripes
At this point in our story, Pilate had exhausted every option to set Jesus free without harm.
He tried to dismiss the case outright.
He tried to pass it off on King Herod.
He tried forcing the mob to choose between Jesus and a hardened criminal.
And yet, the crowd continued to insist that Jesus be crucified. No matter how ludicrous their "charges" were, they refused to drop the matter as long as this Man was still alive.
And so, Pilate was now being forced into more extreme measures to save Jesus' life. In a last-ditch effort, he delivered Jesus over to his soldiers to be scourged...
The Romans didn't have any such restrictions. They were much more thorough and severe in their scourging. This government had the scourging process mastered, and the cruelty of Roman lictors was legendary. In fact, there's a good reason to believe that the Romans were very severe during Jesus' scourging. Most Roman soldiers hated the Jews, they hated Jerusalem, and they hated the Jewish hope of a Messiah delivering them. Now they had a Man who was apparently claiming to be the Messiah, and they had an opportunity to make Him pay!
The tools of a Roman scourging ranged from simple rods for mild offenders, to the dreaded horribile flagellum (or "horrible whip"). We commonly call this whip the "cat of nine tails" - but this was an old British term for punitive flogging. The horrible whip of Rome was much, much worse! This whip was designed for torture, not punishment.
The horrible whip was made out of several leather straps, bound together at one end to form a handle. On the other end, each strap was tipped with sharp objects such as glass, bone, or broken blade-tips. Each single blow of the whip would deliver multiple "stripes" as these sharp objects would slice and tear the flesh. This type of scourging was so devastating that it was illegal to use on Roman citizens. Instead, the horrible whip was reserved for murderers, revolutionaries, pirates, and political prisoners - which would include Jesus at that point.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the historical nature of Roman scourging.
"Typically, the one to be punished was stripped naked and bound to a low pillar so that he could bend over it, or chained to an upright pillar so as to be stretched out. Two lictors alternated blows from the bare shoulders down the body to the soles of the feet.
"There was no limit to the number of blows inflicted - this was left to the lictors to decide, though they were not normally supposed to kill the victim. Nevertheless, Livy, Suetonius, and Josephus report cases of flagellation where victims died while still bound to the post. Flagellation was referred to as 'half death' by some authors. Apparently many victims died shortly thereafter.
"In some cases, the victim was turned over to allow flagellation on the chest, though this proceeded with more caution, as the possibility of inflicting a fatal blow was much greater."
Isaiah 53:4-5 "Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."
We've already touched on some of the griefs and sorrows Jesus bore for us:
He endured the torment of wanting His own way, but still choosing the will of the Father.
He suffered the sorrow of being deserted by His friends and rejected by His peers.
He was lied about, mocked and relentlessly ridiculed.
But notice the last phrase of what Isaiah said..."by His stripes we are healed." Jesus endured the horrible whip because that was the price of our healing. It had nothing to do with taking a penalty for sin...that happened on the cross. It wasn't about our eternal future with God. No, this scourging was about fixing what's wrong in this life!
Some of us have emotional wounds and scars from experiences in our past.
Some of us have mental problems from things we did to ourselves or ways we were raised.
Some of us have damaged and torn-apart families that are filled with hurt and angry people.
Some of us have bodies that have been ravaged by sicknesses and diseases, even those that we caused ourselves.
All of these hurts, all of these infirmities, all of the damage in our lives....all of it can be fixed because Jesus paid for our healing on the whipping post. He loved you so much, that He wasn't willing to leave any hurts unhealed in your life.
And lest you should think that there's a disease that He's not interested in healing (physical, emotional, mental, social, etc...), pay attention to these words from Psalm 103:
"Bless the LORD, oh my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases..."
The same "all" that applies to your sins being forgiven, also applies to your diseases being healed! If there was a disease that God wasn't interested in healing, if there was a damage done to you that God wasn't interested in fixing...obviously David didn't realize it here!
God does not want you sick. He doesn't want you to limp through life, "enduring" something that should be healed. Don't ever settle for less than complete healing in your life...just think about the massive price Jesus paid to set you free from it!
He tried to dismiss the case outright.
He tried to pass it off on King Herod.
He tried forcing the mob to choose between Jesus and a hardened criminal.
And yet, the crowd continued to insist that Jesus be crucified. No matter how ludicrous their "charges" were, they refused to drop the matter as long as this Man was still alive.
And so, Pilate was now being forced into more extreme measures to save Jesus' life. In a last-ditch effort, he delivered Jesus over to his soldiers to be scourged...
The Horrible Whip
It's commonly believed that Jesus was whipped thirty-nine times during His scourging. But this was not necessarily the case. The "thirty-nine lash" rule was a Jewish custom, not a Roman one. The Jewish law allowed for forty blows to punish criminals. Their custom later became thirty-nine lashes as a maximum, just in case there was a miscount.The Romans didn't have any such restrictions. They were much more thorough and severe in their scourging. This government had the scourging process mastered, and the cruelty of Roman lictors was legendary. In fact, there's a good reason to believe that the Romans were very severe during Jesus' scourging. Most Roman soldiers hated the Jews, they hated Jerusalem, and they hated the Jewish hope of a Messiah delivering them. Now they had a Man who was apparently claiming to be the Messiah, and they had an opportunity to make Him pay!
The tools of a Roman scourging ranged from simple rods for mild offenders, to the dreaded horribile flagellum (or "horrible whip"). We commonly call this whip the "cat of nine tails" - but this was an old British term for punitive flogging. The horrible whip of Rome was much, much worse! This whip was designed for torture, not punishment.
The horrible whip was made out of several leather straps, bound together at one end to form a handle. On the other end, each strap was tipped with sharp objects such as glass, bone, or broken blade-tips. Each single blow of the whip would deliver multiple "stripes" as these sharp objects would slice and tear the flesh. This type of scourging was so devastating that it was illegal to use on Roman citizens. Instead, the horrible whip was reserved for murderers, revolutionaries, pirates, and political prisoners - which would include Jesus at that point.
Here is what Wikipedia says about the historical nature of Roman scourging.
"Typically, the one to be punished was stripped naked and bound to a low pillar so that he could bend over it, or chained to an upright pillar so as to be stretched out. Two lictors alternated blows from the bare shoulders down the body to the soles of the feet.
"There was no limit to the number of blows inflicted - this was left to the lictors to decide, though they were not normally supposed to kill the victim. Nevertheless, Livy, Suetonius, and Josephus report cases of flagellation where victims died while still bound to the post. Flagellation was referred to as 'half death' by some authors. Apparently many victims died shortly thereafter.
"In some cases, the victim was turned over to allow flagellation on the chest, though this proceeded with more caution, as the possibility of inflicting a fatal blow was much greater."
"I offered My back..."
While we can't say for sure that Jesus was beat across His chest, we do know for a fact that He was beaten severely across His back. Look at Jesus' own words, prophesied in Isaiah 50:6, "I offered My back to those who beat Me..."
Now look at the severity of this beating, found in Isaiah 52:14 (NIRV) "Many people were shocked when they saw Him. He was so scarred that He no longer looked like a person. His body was so twisted that He did not look like a human being anymore."
And yet, He chose to endure this terrible beating for your sake. Make no mistake about it, He could have stopped this at any point. Look at that phrase from Isaiah 50:6 again...Jesus offered His back to this! Jesus, knowing in advance how terrible the whip would be, took it upon Himself for us.
From the evidence in Jerusalem and the middle-eastern area, we can see that Jesus was stripped naked and then bent over and tied to a low post. Then the lictors took their place on either side of Him and waited for the signal. Once they started, they took turns raining blows down on Jesus' naked back, shoulders, and buttocks. With each lash, the whips tore into the skin and ripped apart the muscle. One by one, Jesus endured each blow...knowing that He could put an end to it at any point.
This was part of Pilate's plan. He wanted Jesus to be beaten so severely that the crowd may decide to let Him go. After all, if this scourging was already known as "half-death", then Jesus may just die from His wounds later. Pilate was trying to leave Jesus' fate to chance...there was a chance that He could die from His wounds (which would appease the crowd), and there was a chance that He could live (which would clear Pilate of any guilt).
This was why Pilate gave Jesus over to the scourging. But this was not why God decided to deliver Jesus to the worst whip in history. Why did Jesus do it?
By His Stripes...
We've already seen that all of Jesus' suffering was redemptive in nature - that He bore these things for our sake. Here's what Isaiah says about these terrible hours of Jesus' life:Isaiah 53:4-5 "Surely He has born our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed."
We've already touched on some of the griefs and sorrows Jesus bore for us:
He endured the torment of wanting His own way, but still choosing the will of the Father.
He suffered the sorrow of being deserted by His friends and rejected by His peers.
He was lied about, mocked and relentlessly ridiculed.
But notice the last phrase of what Isaiah said..."by His stripes we are healed." Jesus endured the horrible whip because that was the price of our healing. It had nothing to do with taking a penalty for sin...that happened on the cross. It wasn't about our eternal future with God. No, this scourging was about fixing what's wrong in this life!
Some of us have emotional wounds and scars from experiences in our past.
Some of us have mental problems from things we did to ourselves or ways we were raised.
Some of us have damaged and torn-apart families that are filled with hurt and angry people.
Some of us have bodies that have been ravaged by sicknesses and diseases, even those that we caused ourselves.
All of these hurts, all of these infirmities, all of the damage in our lives....all of it can be fixed because Jesus paid for our healing on the whipping post. He loved you so much, that He wasn't willing to leave any hurts unhealed in your life.
And lest you should think that there's a disease that He's not interested in healing (physical, emotional, mental, social, etc...), pay attention to these words from Psalm 103:
"Bless the LORD, oh my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases..."
The same "all" that applies to your sins being forgiven, also applies to your diseases being healed! If there was a disease that God wasn't interested in healing, if there was a damage done to you that God wasn't interested in fixing...obviously David didn't realize it here!
God does not want you sick. He doesn't want you to limp through life, "enduring" something that should be healed. Don't ever settle for less than complete healing in your life...just think about the massive price Jesus paid to set you free from it!
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