Many of us are familiar with John 3:16, but given that this is Easter week, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what this season truly means and on the profound worth God places on each of us. John 3:16-17 reminds us that God loved the world so deeply that He gave His only Son, not to condemn humanity, but so that all who believe in Him might be saved and receive eternal life. To understand the magnitude of that gift, we must first reckon with what it cost.
Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of sin is death, but that God’s free gift is eternal life through Christ Jesus. So why did Jesus, who was without sin, have to die? What did He willingly endure in our place? Second Corinthians 5:21 answers plainly: God made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, so that through Him we might be made righteous before God.
In his article “The Unimaginable Suffering of Christ,” Greg Stier captures the weight of what Jesus actually experienced. After Pontius Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified, Roman soldiers, men trained in torture and execution, stripped Him, bound Him, and flogged Him repeatedly with a Roman flagrum, a whip embedded with metal and bone designed to tear flesh with every stroke. The beating was so severe that it was known as “the half death,” because half of those who received it did not survive. Jesus did, because He had more to endure.
A crown of thorns was beaten into His skull. His face was battered beyond recognition, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy written more than 700 years prior that the Son of God would be so disfigured He would scarcely appear human. He was mocked, spat upon, and humiliated, and through it all, He remained silent.
He was then led to Golgotha, where soldiers drove spike nails through His wrists and feet and lifted the cross into the ground. Every breath required Him to push His body upward, dragging His torn back against the rough wood of the cross. He hung there for six hours. Near the end, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”, words that reflect the most devastating dimension of His suffering: in that moment, the Father turned away as the full weight of humanity’s sin and God’s wrath was placed upon His Son. Then, with three words, “It is finished,” Jesus bowed His head and died. The debt of sin had been paid in full.
Why did He endure it? Hebrews 12:2 gives us the answer: for the joy set before Him. Greg Stier describes that joy as twofold. First, He knew His sacrifice would be pleasing to the Father. Second, and perhaps most personally, we were that joy. If He chose and loved us before the foundation of the world, then you and I were on His mind as He hung on that cross, and that brought Him joy in the midst of unimaginable agony.
Maybe you do not feel loved. But you are, with an everlasting love that Jesus proved on the cross. Maybe it seems no one understands your suffering. But He does. He drank the full cup of God’s wrath so that you would never have to.To read the full article, visit:https://gregstier.org/the-unimaginable-suffering-of-jesus/Credit: Greg Stier, “The Unimaginable Suffering of Christ”
