From the Garden to the Grave: Part II

    And all the people answered Pilate and said, "His blood is on us and on our children." Then Pilate released Barrabas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus (flogged with a Roman cat of nine tails) he delivered Him to be crucified. Matthew 27:25,26

    The devil incited the people to choose a murderer over Jesus and Pilate released him and sent Jesus to be whipped! I don't think we know how cruel this scourging was and how bad His injuries were with deep stripes and loss of blood thirty-nine stripes was often times deadly!

    The "Cat of nine tails" was a whip with leather straps and had pieces of bone or metal on the ends to tear the flesh and produce horrible wounds and massive bleeding. The reasoning behind thirty-nine stripes was that forty would kill a man, as if thirty-nine wasn't bad enough. Jesus suffered greatly as the Romans who enjoyed cruelty whipped the King of all kings!

    It is believed that there are thirty-nine root diseases and the stripes Jesus received healed every one of them. The blood that He shed healed us and set us free from generational sickness and healed all of our infirmities!

    Jesus Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes (wounds) you were healed. I Peter 2:24

THE CROWN OF SUFFERING

    The Romans took Jesus into the Praetorium, and they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Matthew 27:27-29

    Jesus bled from the crown of thorns to break the curse of poverty and lack brought about when God cursed the livelihood of Adam. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden, they lost their Divine provision having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was off limits to them.

    Naked and afraid they were forced out and evicted from paradise only to fend for themselves in a foreign land where they would have to scratch out a living from the cursed ground. God killed an animal, most likely a lamb and sprinkled the blood over them to cleanse them of their sin and placed cherubim at the east end of the garden and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

    The blood from the crown of thorns reversed the curse of poverty, debt and lack that we inherited from the sin of Adam and set us free from the curse that still effects millions around the world.

    Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you. Genesis 3:17-18

CRUCIFY HIM!

    And when they had mocked Him, they took the robe off Him, put His own clothes on Him, and led Him away to be crucified. Matthew 27:31

    Jesus was laid upon a rugged cross or maybe a tree, nonetheless it was a rough surface for a wounded bleeding back. The Romans took His hands and drove long nails through them pinning Him to the cross bar!

    Jesus' hands were pierced through with rusty nails and bled to forgive our transgressions, a technical term for the willful deviation from the path of righteousness. It is a premeditated crossing of the line of God's law, a rebellious act of rejecting God's authority. We have all transgressed God's covenant and are worthy of death and Hell if not repented of!

    Because of this one unselfish act of suffering all of mankind was given a chance toescape the fires of an eternal damnation away from the presence of a Holy God! In order to be saved one must confess their transgressions and repent to receive the blood shed for them and be forgiven!

    Jesus was wounded (pierced) for our transgressions. Isaiah 53:5

Your servant in Christ, Timothy Laughlin
   Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ