Even though I’ve been a Christian all my life, I’ve just now begun to discover the extent to which Jesus suffered for our salvation. There have been times when I have truly FELT some sort of emotion for the penalty he took for us like, for example, when I watched the Passion of the Christ and saw some sort of visual for what he went through. But it still hasn't seemed to fully click in my mind the battles Jesus went through just for our sake. Just to save us because he LOVES us. 

Last week, we learned all about suffering that is talked about in Romans 5 and how it's good because it reveals to us what’s inside of us, gives us the opportunity to grow, and bears fruit of a higher character. 

Suffering reveals what we do in our secret place and how we spend our time. Is it with the Lord in the word, in prayer, in worship? Or other things? How do we respond when we are squeezed to our wits end? Do we respond with anger, frustration, complaining, anxiousness, and malice, or with peace, love, and harmony? 

An example she gave was the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedego in Daniel 3. These 3 men were ready for what was to come when they were squeezed and when they suffered for Christ’s sake. They weren’t afraid when threatened to be thrown into the fiery furnace by King Nebechuzzar! They bravely stepped into the suffering because they knew the truth of what the word says, saying we will endure suffering for his sake, but that it is worth it anyway. 

Suffering gives us the opportunity to grow with the Lord. By experiencing suffering, it challenges you to walk in the uncomfortable and lean on the Lord for strength. To depend on him to get you through. One of the questions she told us to ask ourselves was “Are you giving your all fully living for Christ every day, or is it just another day?” 

Hearing those words come out of her mouth made me pause and reflect. Wow, am I ACTUALLY giving my all? Every, single, day? 

Luke 9:23 says “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life would lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” 

Am I continuously laying down my own flesh and selfish desires to be obedient and pursue what the Lord wants me to pursue? (Galatians 5:16-17) I know that I’m not gonna grow more than my willingness to persevere, so when actually was the last time that I did something to challenge myself to persevere with the Lord? These are all questions I am continuing to ask myself and that I will be asking myself for the rest of my life daily. 

Suffering bears fruit of a higher character. It’s similar to being refined like gold. As gold is made, impurities rise and are wiped away, removed. The Lord wants to do that to us. He wants the impurities and sin in us to rise and be wiped clean by his blood that renews us (2 Corinthians 5:17). He doesn’t want us to run away from suffering but to run towards it in order that we can obtain higher character which is acting and being more like him! 

As servants of Christ, we should follow him and pursue BEING like him even if we go through the worst suffering imaginable because we know the GOOD that comes out of it. Like it says shortly after in 2 Corinthians 6: 3-10 about enduring through the suffering, even through affliction, hardship, and trial.

And what gets us through suffering? Scripture, Truth, and Intimacy with the Lord. With those three pillars, you're set to succeed in the battle with intercession. 

Also, changing your perspective on suffering is SO IMPORTANT. Instead of complaining and asking the Lord “Why me?”, thanking God for bringing about another opportunity to show your spirit, grow with him, and be of higher character. 

A statement she told us to write down and remember was “A little suffering is good for the soul.”

It even says in James 1:2 to COUNT IT ALL JOY when you meet trials of various kinds because the testing, of suffering for your faith, produces steadfastness. So the next time suffering comes about in your life, immediately give thanks to the Lord and say “Thank you God for giving me this opportunity to grow with you and go deeper with you!” Because that’s what we should always be wanting. To grow closer in intimacy with the Lord. To have an ongoing hunger, thirst, and burning fire for the Lord. 

I’ve found that how you interpret the world is all about perspective. If you have a bad perspective, thinking that you are the victim and everything sucks, well then yeah, things are gonna suck for you. But if you change your lens to look at things as opportunities for growth and thanking God for the bad and good, you will be much more positive about your outlook on life. And you will be much more joyful, knowing that the Lord is always taking care of you and is always good, even through the hardship.

The Father doesn’t bring about suffering in our life. Suffering comes because we live in a broken world that the enemy owns. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy and will do ANYTHING he can to break us down and pull us away from Jesus. But through the bad and the evil, Jesus calls us to come to him and to enter into the process of sanctification, into becoming more like him which is good in his eyes (Romans 8:28-29). 

That brings me back to Jesus’ suffering on the cross. To be honest, we don’t even know true suffering. Of course, each of us have had our fair share of trials and hardships, but REAL suffering, like the suffering that Jesus endured on the cross, is unimaginable. And that suffering that he went through is all that he wants us to comprehend along with him overcoming death. That moment, that event that altered history forever. God doesn’t want us to impress him with works and acts of ministry. He wants us to simply BE, simply PRESS IN to what he did on that powerful day to save us from eternal misery. 

So what is the extent to which Jesus suffered on the cross in the events leading up to it and in the particular moment? Before I begin listing the facts of what I learned, I will say it is very important to research the history and context behind what you are reading with any passage in the Bible. The scripture sometimes says it simply and matter-of-factly because the people that wrote it knew it more clearly. They had lived it, so it was more clear and obvious to them. But to us, we are living in a different time period in a different place as a different generation. We don’t fully know what life was like back then. We can assume based off of the vague descriptions the Bible sometimes gives us. Even so, we should be investigating it more, especially with the resources we have been given to more closely look into the background of the stories on the internet from theologians and those who have studied it further. 

With that in mind, the scriptures reference multiple things. They flogged him, put a crown of thorns on his head, mocked him, struck him with their hands, made him carry his own cross, crucified him, and cast lots on his clothes (John 19). And that was only the suffering that Jesus experienced inflicted upon by the Romans. Beforehand, he had been suffering KNOWING all that he was gonna go through and asking the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane to take the cup from him. He sweated literal drops of blood in agony (Luke 22:39-44). Can you imagine that? Sweating blood because of how much stress and anguish you are in thinking about the task you have to complete. 

By flogging, it meant stripping Jesus naked, tying his hands to a post, and whipping him with pieces of leather with bones and sharp objects near the ends. It was brought down full force again and again and again, intended to cut deeper and deeper into the skin until flesh was hanging in long ribbons on his back. Many times, victims of this brutality didn’t survive which is why it is called the “half death” because half the men who received it died from it. But Jesus did since he still had a mission to complete. 

By a crown of thorns, it meant putting a crown made from a very prickly plant on his scalp, which is a pretty vulnerable spot on the body, and beating it further into his head with a rod to keep it intact. 

By mocking and striking him with their own hands, it meant the Roman soldiers kneeling before him, laughing and calling out “Hail, King of the Jews”, slapping him, and spitting on him, all for him to remain silent. 

By making him carry his own cross, it meant carrying a 70-125 lb crosspiece (patibulum) on his shoulder, so heavy that Simon of Cyrene had to help him (Matthew 27:32). 

By crucified, it meant driving heavy, square, wrought-iron nails into each of his wrists deep into the wood. Then, his left foot was backward against his right foot with both of his feet extended and his toes down, a nail driving through the arch of each leaving the knees moderately flexed. The pain he must have experienced through all of this is unfathomable to me. I can’t even imagine going through something like this or even watching it happen. 

Finally, by casting lots on his clothes, it meant betting to see who would get the clothes of the man they had just humiliated and tortured nearly to death. 

I could go so much more in depth with the severity with which Jesus suffered for our sake, but it would be better for you to look it up and search for yourself and ask the Lord to imagine and feel how others felt in that moment, seeing him go through the cruelest and most hideous punishment possible. 

After learning even a snippet of the suffering that Jesus endured, I will now look towards every suffering that comes my way with joy, knowing that if Jesus was able to undergo torture and still remain faithful. If he was able to continuously look towards the Father in obedience to the calling he gave him to complete, I will do the same. Jesus, help me to remain faithful even in the difficulty. Make me look towards you always and to rejoice in the suffering knowing that you are good. That it is worth all the pain and suffering because it makes me more like you on the cross on that day, taking the punishment that you never deserved but took upon yourself anyway because you love us that much. 

Articles I read from: 

https://tonycooke.org/articles-by-tony-cooke/medical-description-jesus/

https://gregstier.org/the-unimaginable-suffering-of-jesus/