#63 Jesus’ Trial And Torture Series

I wonder why that is. Maybe God never intended for us to know his response to what Jesus had done for Him. Maybe it’s to remind us that WE have a decision to make about what Jesus did for us. We can spurn His free gift of salvation out of sinful ungratefulness. Or we can look at all Jesus did in our place and say, “Thank you! Thank you, Jesus. That should have been ME being scourged, mocked, and tortured, carrying my own cross to Golgotha and crucified for my own sins.”

III. LAST IN OUR STORY, IN VERSES 15-20 WE SEE SUFFERING: THE GOD-MAN SHAMFULLY ABUSED. – “So Pilate, willing to satisfy the people, released Barabbas to them, and after having Jesus scourged, he delivered him to be crucified. 16 And the soldiers led him away into the palace, called the Praetorium; and they called together the whole garrison. 17 And they clothed him in purple, and twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 18 And began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they kept striking him on the head with a staff, and spit on him, and bowing the knee, they paid homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off him, and put his own clothes on him, and they led him out to crucify him.

Before the cross, Jesus faced unspeakable torture by the cruel Roman soldiers. A squad of three soldiers usually performed a flogging. The prisoner was stripped, and his hands were tied to a ring in a wooden post. Two soldiers stood on each side with a Roman whip, call a flagrum, in their hands. This was a leather whip of nine thongs with pieces of sharp metal or stone embedded in the end of each thong.

Dr. C. Truman Davis, a physician who has studied the medical aspects of the crucifixion published this report about the flogging of Jesus: “The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper in the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles… Finally, the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue.” (“The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View,” Arizona Medicine, 22, no. 3, March 1965, p. 185.)

There are accounts of Roman soldiers flogging prisoners to death. But the purpose of flogging was to bring them as close to death as possible so that the crucifixion time would be shortened. If you ever saw the movie, “The Passion of Christ,” you have an idea of what it was like, but no movie could truly portray the horror of Christ’s torture.

After the scourging, Jesus was taken inside the fortress where an entire company of Roman soldiers came and continued to torture him. In mockery, they put a purple robe on the bloody back of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the very God of the universe, and twisted a crown of long, sharp thorns and then crushed it on His head. They blindfolded Him and struck Him in the face and head with clubs.