SEMESTER 5
470 – The Suffering of Christ on the Cross
BIBLE INSTITUTE OF CORRESPONDENCE
COURSE: BIBLE SURVEY V LESSON # 70
THE SUFFERING OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS
Read Mat. 27:29-37
, Mk. 15:16-26, Lk. 23:24-33, Jn. 19:16-22.
INTRODUCTION:
1. We rejoice in gratitude that God sent His Son to pay for our sins. (Jn. 3:16)
2. We rejoice in that Christ arose, mightily triumphant over His foes. (Rev. 1:18)
3. We can become almost objective in preaching. (I Cor. 15:1-4)
4. But let us never forget that the greatest day of human suffering of all time was the day that Jesus spent on the cross.
I. THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL SUFFERING OF JESUS BEFORE AND ON THE CROSS
1. He had suffered the wounds of being forsaken by all His disciples. Never think that omniscience in any way tranquilized this pain. (Matt. 26:21-15, Matt. 26:31-38)
2. The subjection of Himself as a man to the perfect will of God is something none of us can fully comprehend. (Lk. 22:42-44)
3. He endured the wickedness of those who came for Him in the garden. (Matt. 26:47-50, Jn. 18:4-13)
4. He suffered the false accusations of all our sins which He was taking upon Himself. (Matt. 26:59-66)
5. He suffered all the personal humiliation that was heaped upon Him. (Matt. 26:67-68)
6. He suffered the crown of thorns, the smiting with the reed and the deadly scourging in Pilate’s judgment hall. (Jn. 19:1-5)
7. He was nailed to a Roman cross, probably by huge wooden pegs being driven through His hands and feet.
II. REASONS JESUS’ SUFFERING ON THE CROSS WAS GREATER THAN NORMALLY CONSIDERED
1. His personal sensitivity to the sinfulness of sin, thus its penalty. (Heb. 12:3-4)
2. The absence of all desensitizing anger, vindictiveness, etc. (Lk. 23:34)
3. He was suffering for all the differing kinds of sin ever committed in the world.
4. This is not a claim of accumulative guilt or suffering, but of the composite penalty of all the various sins that are to ever be forgiven.
5. His purpose to suffer all the penalty for sin that justice demanded. (Heb. 10:1-7)
III: This truth borne out in the fact that on the cross He refused the sedating drink of vinegar and myrrh.
III. THE LORD’S TIME ON THE CROSS
1. It is thought by some that the comparatively short time that our Lord spent on the cross, contradicts the statement of an extreme, or of an unique amount of suffering.
2. During the Roman era thousands of men were crucified, and many of them hung on their cross for days before they died, and then remained there until their flesh decayed and fell off their bones.
3. Our Lord hung on the cross for less than nine hours and was alive for only about six of those hours. (Matt. 27:45-50, Mk. 15:22-38, Lk. 23:39-45, Jn. 19:1-22) See note:* at bottom of page.
4. He was crucified at approximately 9:00 am, according to our time.
5. Remember that He had spent the previous nine or so hours in the cruelest possible mock trial and physical punishment imaginable.
6. During this time all His disciples had been offended and had forsaken Him.
7. At about noon that day God turned out the world’s lights for the Light of the world had been rejected. (Jn. 1:1-5, Jn. 3:19)
8. For the next three hours our Lord suffered an infinite amount of pain and anguish, separated from and forsaken by God as no other man has ever been. (Ps. 22:1-31)
Note: The Gospel of John seems to say that the Lord was crucified sometime after the 6th hour (noon), while Mk. 15:22-25 clearly states it was the third hour, and Matt. 27:45-46 and Lk. 23:44 reveal that the darkness period started at this time. Obviously, the darkness did not prevail during His entire time on the cross, because of such revelations as Matt. 27:39-44 and Lk. 23:34-43. I have read every comment on this problem I can find, and they are few. None of them satisfies me. The best explanation I can give is this: While John gives details revealed by no other writer he is never dedicated to chronology in his writings. In Jn. 19 the dialogue between Pilate and the elders of Israel is revealed more fully than any other place. You need to remember that on this day Pilate is near insanity, and some writers say he later went completely crazy. Keep in mind also the human difficulty of translating sentence structure, which sometimes necessitates very large contextual study. I expect that John’s mention of the 6th hour in verse 14 has to do with the time that the superscription over the cross was contested, in verse 19-22 and not the immediate context of verses 13-18. If anyone has a good explanation of this difficulty I would appreciate the help.