Because Jesus Christ, being without sin, became our sacrifice of redemption, God’s righteousness was completely satisfied while demonstrating His agape love to us. Jesus was cursed according to the law on behalf of sinners (Gal 3:13) and bore their sins (1 Pet 2:24; cf. Isa 53:6). As a result, our sins were transferred to Jesus, and His righteousness was given to us as a free gift (Rom 3:22–24; 4:25; 2 Cor 5:21). Finally, true freedom was restored and eternal life was given (Rom 6:23; 8:1–2) to a humanity that was groaning under the weight of sin and death.
(3) The suffering Jesus endured on behalf of sinners
The suffering that Jesus endured was the atonement for the redemption of His chosen people. The entire thirty-three years of Jesus’ life, from the very moment He came to this earth in the form of man, was a continuance of the horrendous suffering that He had to bear for all of our sins. This unspeakable pain was for the fulfillment of His redemptive work.
During the final week of His short life of thirty-three years, all the forces of evil gathered their strength to attack Jesus. He was oppressed and afflicted beyond His strength. On His way to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus revealed His distressed heart to three of His disciples (Mark 14:32–34).
Matthew 26:37–38 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”
Jesus left eight of His disciples at the foot of the mountain and took three disciples to pray with Him (Matt 26:36; Mark 14:32). However, they became exhausted with fatigue and fell asleep, so Jesus was left alone to pray. He fell to the ground (Mark 14:35), knelt down (Luke 22:41), fell on his face (Matt 26:39), and offered up prayers with loud cries and tears that resounded throughout the Garden of Gethsemane (Heb 5:7).
Knowing what was going to happen to Him (Mark 10:32), Jesus must have squeezed every drop of oil from His flesh, heart, and soul until He felt like His heart would burst and His intestines would tear during His last earnest prayer at Gethsemane. This pain was the beginning of the cross. When Jesus prayed, “Yet not My will, but Thine be done” (Luke 22:42), God could not bear to look upon His suffering and anguish any longer and sent an angel from heaven to strengthen Him (Luke 22:43). In the meantime, Jesus prayed even more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling upon the ground (Luke 22:44).
As soon as Jesus finished praying, more than 200 soldiers came looking for Him (John 18:3).1 With Judas’ kiss, which was a prearranged sign (Mark 14:44), they seized Jesus as if He were a thief (Matt 26:55), tied Him up with a rope, and dragged Him away bound like a beast (John 18:12). Jesus was brought before Annas (John 18:13), Caiaphas (Matt 26:57–68), the council of the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66), Pilate (Mark 15:1), Herod (Luke 23:7), and Pilate again (Luke 23:11–25), respectively, until finally He was dragged up to Golgotha to be crucified on the cross (Matt 27:31; Mark 15:20; Luke 23:26).
When Jesus was questioned by Annas, one of the officers struck Him (John 18:22). After His death sentence was confirmed in the courtyard of Caiaphas the high priest, the religious leaders spat in Jesus’ face. They then covered His face with a cloth, struck Him, and taunted Him by saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ; who is the one who hit you?” (Matt 26:66–68). The servants followed the others and struck Him with the palms of their hands (Mark 14:64–65).
After being scourged and sentenced to crucifixion by Pilate, Jesus was dragged to the governor’s courthouse, the Praetorium, where He was ridiculed and mocked before the entire Roman cohort (Matt 27:26–30; Mark 15:15–20; John 19:1). Thick whips normally were split into three strands at the end, while other whips were split into nine thinner strands with pieces of metal or bone attached at each tip. Each time the whip was lashed, the tips dug in and tore off a piece of flesh. According to the seven great prophecies in Psalm 38, there was not one place on Jesus’ flesh that was sound (Ps 38:3). Every lashed area was torn up, and His back looked like a field with furrows plowed.
Psalm 129:3 The plowers plowed upon my back; they lengthened their furrows.
It was a cold dawn (John 18:18), and Jesus could hardly hold Himself up after losing so much blood from the ruthless beatings. Just as the psalmist prophesied, His bones were wounded and out of joint (Ps 22:14). By the time the soldiers propped Him up, His face was unrecognizable. His face was swollen and covered with blood. Indeed, it did not even look human.
Psalm 22:6 But I am a worm, and not a man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
The prophet Isaiah prophesied 750 years before Jesus’ time that all the people would turn their faces away to avoid looking upon Jesus’ appalling appearance.
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
The Roman soldiers cruelly placed a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head to mock Him, mercilessly stripped Him, and clothed Him with a scarlet robe to further ridicule Him (Matt 27:28; Mark 15:17; John 19:2). They stomped over His holy body with their dirty feet and treated Him like a worm (Isa 51:23). Furthermore, they spat on Him and beat Him on the head pitilessly with reeds (Mark 15:17–19; John 19:2-3).
Matthew 27:29–30 And after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they kneeled down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30And they spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.
Here, the word beat
(4) The work of redemption fulfilled on the cross
After the agonizing climb up the hill of Golgotha, Jesus was treated like a wicked criminal when he was crucified alongside the two actual criminals. He was subjected to the unspeakable shame of being crucified completely naked in broad daylight before a mob of people (Matt 27:38; Mark 15:27; Luke 23:33; John 19:18).
Jesus spoke seven times during the six hours on the cross. He spoke three times between the third (9 a.m. [Mark 15:25]) and the sixth hour (noon [Luke 23:34, 43; John 19:26]). Between the sixth and the ninth hour (3 p.m.), darkness fell over the whole land (Matt 27:45; Mark 15:33; Luke 23:44). Just before He died, around the ninth hour, He spoke four more times (Matt 27:45–46; John 19:28, 30; Luke 23:46).
The six hours on the cross were a compression of Jesus’ life and the culmination of the history of redemption. It is not an overstatement to say that Jesus lived thirty-three years of His life for those six hours on the cross. They contain the completion of God’s work of redemption, His judgment upon Satan, and the ultimate triumph of the saints (Col 2:13–15).
Jesus delivered seven immortal messages during the six hours on the cross. The first of the messages was the proclamation of atonement.
Luke 23:34 But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments