with his hands tied securely. His back was bent to take the harsh whip of leather thongs, the ends of which were imbedded with sharp pieces of metal or bone so that the flesh would be lacerated and laid open. Is it any wonder that a person would lift His voice in anguish? No, as far as Christ was concerned, no amount of physical torture could make Him cry out. I t was because, for the first time in Eternity past, He would be separated from God the Father. Nothing could compare with this factor. It was the spiritual suffering of His heart that caused Him to give forth this most pitiful cry. At this point, Jesus came into contact with your sin and mine. That scream was caused by every sin you and I have ever committed. The penalty of sin is spiritual death (Rom. 6:23). Spiritual death, by way of definition, is simply separa tion from God. That is why Jesus Christ screamed, “My God, my God!” Someone has suggested that one of these cries is addressed to the Fa ther while the other to the Holy Spirit. This for Jesus Christ was far worse than any physical torture, no matter how extreme that might have been. Here was the virgin-born Son of God suffering death: spirit ual separation from God. If you’re a sensitive Christian today, you can not but react to such a scene. Why are we Christians so reluctant to confess some known sin that robs us of fellowship with God? What agony spiritual separation really is! Let’s not become calloused to the impor tance of maintaining communion with our Lord. Don’t let even the smallest thing get in the way. This scream by Jesus Christ is His fourth statement from the cross. I t’s the closest we come to knowing about what the lake of fire will be like. Consider the men and women who’ll be s e p a r a t e d from God throughout all eternity. This is the reason why the Bible is so emphatic,
tation, it meant, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The English is hardly strong enough. The Greek indicates that “suddenly He screamed out.” Why was this? Was it the physical agony through which He’d been going? Think of all that unspeakable physical torture. When He was unjustly tried and falsely accused, He held his peace. God, the Holy Spirt, was controlling His life. There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence. When the Holy Spir it fills our lives, we’ll know which course of action to follow. Did you ever have anyone gossip or tell a lie about you? Let's learn the lesson of the Lord’s silence. Everything was left in the hands of the Father. Christ left His case in God’s hands. When the high priest asked Him, “If you be the Christ, I command you that you tell us plainly,” Jesus did affirm, “Thou hast said.” In the Greek this is very emphatic, “Yes, I am the Christ.” The Bible tells us (Matt. 26:65) that the high priest tore his clothes in accusation, “He’s spoken blasphemy!” The clamor for death soon began to be heard. Men began to spit in the face of the Son of God, the One who would bear every sin they had ever committed. They buffeted Him, which means “to punch.” They constantly, repeatedly, hit Him squarely in the face so that, according to Isaiah 52:14, when they got through, He no longer looked human. Many artists m istak en ly have painted Christ with an impres sion that He was weak, but He was physically strong. O th e rw is e He could never have taken this kind of punishment. Yet on He went to that cross to pay the penalty of our sins. “He was made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Angry men scourged our Lord Jesus Christ. This was a terrible introduction to crucifixion. It was even called, “the intermediate death.” The victim was usually bound to a column or stake 8
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