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The Sufferings of Christ
“Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified” (Matthew 27:26).
What was Roman scourging? The victim was stripped and tied in a bending posture to a pillar or stretched on a frame. The scourge was made of leather thongs, weighted with sharp pieces of bone or lead, which tore the flesh of both the back and the breast. People sometimes died as a result. Jesus endured a scourging administered by the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
However, as awful as this was — and the rest of the physical sufferings that the Lord endured — the price for sin was paid in the three hours of darkness on the cross. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). It was those atoning sufferings at the hand of God that opened the way of blessing for us. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Meditate on those sufferings today as you remember Him and that great work of Calvary.
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