Musings From the Gospel of John – Number 54

The Scripture verses covered in this post are from John 19:1-3 NASB which reads as follows:

“So Pilate then took Jesus and had Him flogged. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, and put a purple cloak on Him; and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped Him in the face again and again.”

If you wish to familiarize yourself with the whip used for flogging, and the damage that was inflicted, to one who was flogged, by the Roman solders, you can do so here.

This is a difficult passage to think about because of what is now beginning to happen and Whom it is happening to.

This is Jesus, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Righteous One, the Son of God who willingly came to fulfill the Father’s will, and take away the sin of the world, standing before men, being flogged, mocked and slapped.

This is Jesus, the Son of God, by Whom all things that were made, were made, standing before men, as the Lamb being led to the slaughter. Colossians 1:15-17 NASB, which reads as follows, refers:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers, or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

This is Jesus who humbled Himself so that we might be reconciled once again to our heavenly Father. Philippians 2:5-7 NASB, which reads as follows, refers:

“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men.”

I would be remiss if I did not mention Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53:1-12 NASB, which reads as follows:

“53 Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
² For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
³ He was despised and abandoned by men,
A man of great pain and familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.
⁴ However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by God, and humiliated.
⁵ But He was pierced for our offenses,
He was crushed for our wrongdoings;
The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.
⁶ All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So he did not open His mouth.
⁸ By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the living
For the wrong doing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
⁹ And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
¹⁰ But the Lord desired
To crush Him, causing Him grief;
If He renders Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
¹¹ As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will bear their wrongdoings.
¹² Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His life unto death,
And was counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.”

This is the Prophet Isaiah, prophesying about the Righteous One who was to come as the “Suffering Servant” of God. Take the time to read through it, because as you do, you will be reminded of so many things that apply to Jesus. And this connection that we make with Isaiah 53 as it is associated with Jesus, is shared by many of the New Testament writers. These are just some of the following cross references that apply:

Matthew 8:17 NASB
Luke 23:8-9 NASB
John 12:38 NASB
Romans 10:16 NASB
1 Peter 2:25 NASB
And Isaiah 53 was the Scripture that Philip explained to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:32-33 NASB.

And Jesus, the Son of the living God, was flogged, mocked and slapped for us. It grieves me when I think of what Jesus endured for us, it grieves me that He bore our sins. But such is the love of our heavenly Father, that He would send us His Son, to do for us, what we in ourselves could never do.

John 3:16-21 NASB

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

More to follow.

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!