Forgiveness

John 19:1 – “Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.”

As a young man of perhaps 33 years of age, Jesus was in good health due to his job as a carpenter and his constant walking of many miles as an itinerant minister. Jesus began speaking openly of his impending death, including at the Passover meal he ate with his friends as their Last Supper. There, he broke with 15 centuries of protocol. In so doing, he showed that the Passover meal, which God’s people had been eating annually, found its ultimate fulfillment in him. The Passover memorialized the night in Egypt when, in faith, God’s people covered the doorposts of their home with blood so that death would not come to the firstborn son in their home but would rather pass over them (Exodus 6–12). Jesus, the firstborn Son of God, likewise, had come to die and cover us with his blood so that God’s just wrath would literally pass over us sinners as the essence of the new covenant (Luke 22:19–21).

During the Last Supper, Satan entered one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas, who had been stealing money from Jesus’ ministry fund for some time and had agreed to hand him over to the authorities to be crucified. After Judas left the meal to lead the soldiers to Jesus, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he spent a sleepless night in an agony of prayer. At this point, Jesus was fully aware of his impending crucifixion and was so distressed that, as the Bible records, he sweated drops of blood, a physical condition that doctors say is rare because it requires an elevated level of stress that few people ever experience.

After Jesus’ exhausting, sleepless night of distress, Judas arrived with the soldiers and betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Jesus was then arrested. He was made to walk a few miles to a series of false trials where contradicting false witnesses were brought forward to offer false testimony. Despite the absence of any evidence supporting the false charges, Jesus was sentenced to be murdered. He was eventually blindfolded as a mob of cowardly men beat him mercilessly. He was then stripped nearly naked in great shame, and the Bible just says that they had him scourged.

Scourging itself was such a painful event that many people died from it without even making it to their cross. Jesus’ hands would have been chained above his head to expose his back and legs to an executioner’s whip called a cat-o’-nine-tails. The whip was a series of long leather straps. At the end of some of the straps were heavy balls of metal intended to tenderize the body of a victim, like a chef tenderizes a steak by beating it. Some of the straps had hooks made of either metal or bone that would have sunk deeply into the shoulders, back, buttocks, and legs of the victim. Once the hooks had sunk deeply into the tenderized flesh, the executioner would rip the skin, muscle, tendons, and even bones off the victim as he shouted in agony, shook violently, and bled heavily. Ancient historians record that, on occasion, a rib would come flying off a man and that many died before they ever got to the cross. Hundreds of years prior, the prophet Isaiah predicted: “Many were astonished at you—his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind” (Isa. 52:14).

Jesus’ bare back and shoulders, though bloodied and traumatized, were then forced to carry his roughly hewn wooden crossbar of perhaps 100 pounds to his place of crucifixion. The cross was likely already covered in the blood of other men. Timber was so expensive that crosses were recycled; therefore, Jesus’ blood mixed with the layers of blood, sweat, and tears of countless other men who had walked that same path before him.

Curiously, we live in a day when it seems like everyone wants to be considered a victim. But, the greatest victim in the history of the world is Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life and suffered the most injustice and cruelty in all of human history.

In our nearly year-long study of John’s Gospel, the final roughly one-third of the book focuses on the final week leading up to Jesus’ death on the cross. The timing is prophetic as it is during the Jewish Passover. All of Passover was prophetic and preparing people for the coming of Jesus starting with the blood sacrifice of the lamb.  

Blood is an unpleasant subject to many because it brings to mind suffering and death. Curiously, the Bible is a book literally filled with blood. On 362 occasions, the Old Testament speaks of blood, most often referring to sacrifices and death by violence. The New Testament also speaks of blood 92 times, most commonly in reference to violent death. Much of the Bible’s teaching about blood is in relation to the hundreds of appearances of related issues such as the Temple, priesthood, fire, and smoke.

The shedding of blood and animal sacrifice likely began with God, after the sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, as God covered their nakedness and shame with the skin of an animal (Genesis 3:21). Other sacrifices were offered by Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job (Genesis 4:1-5; 8:20; 22:3, 13; 26:25; 33:20; 35:7; Job 1:5). Perhaps the most insightful sacrifice was done by Abraham in place of Isaac, where it was promised that one day, through Jesus, God would provide the ultimate sacrifice (Genesis 22:14).

Blood was again shed in Exodus at the Passover (Exodus 12:1-30), which was commemorated each year with the Feast of Passover. Later, sacrifices were only conducted by priests at the temple (Deuteronomy 12:5-14) according to strict protocol (Leviticus 1-7). 

The process of animal sacrifice was an incredibly personal confession of sin. First, an unblemished animal was chosen, symbolizing perfection. Second, the worshipper would draw near the animal that was to be substituted in place of the worshipper. Third, the worshipper would lay hands on the animal to identify with it, confessing their sins in repentance over the animal. Fourth, the animal was then killed and its blood shed as the penalty for sin. 

Nonetheless, the Old Testament practice of sacrificial atonement was declared by God to be insufficient for the remission of sin (Psalm 40:6; 51:16; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8; Hebrews 10:4). This is because those sacrifices were only preparatory in anticipation of the death of Jesus (Jeremiah 31:34b; Hebrews 8:3-13). Additionally, the Old Covenant practice of sacrifice was often undertaken by people who did not truly love God in their hearts and instead had only an outward faith (Proverbs 7 especially verse 14; Proverbs 15:8; Psalm 51:17; Hosea 6:6; 1 Samuel 15:21-22).

Because the bloodshed of animals in the Old Covenant was insufficient, Jesus was sent to shed His blood as our God-man who atones for our sin and bring us into the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 7:22). Therefore, Jesus is our Great High Priest who is, in every way, superior to all the priests of the Old Covenant (Hebrews 2:17; 4:14-15). He laid down his life as the Lamb of God who takes away our sins (John 1:29). He is our Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) who has saved us from sin and death by His blood (1 Peter 1:18-19) that was shed once to forgive all sin (Hebrews 9:26; 10:10).

Today, there is no longer a Temple, priesthood, or sacrificial system since the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. But, in the New Covenant, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) and Christians are a priesthood of believers (1 Peter 2:9). As Christians, we do not offer animal sacrifices but do celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus in communion (1 Corinthians 10:14-22). And we do offer our lives (Romans 12:1-2), good deeds (Hebrews 13:16), money (Philippians 4:18), and worshipful singing (Hebrews 13:15) as living sacrifices to Jesus.

What difference has Jesus’ sacrifice made in your life?