The Physical Suffering of Christ; John
19:16-18
Isaiah 53:5 NASB
“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; The chastening for our well-being {fell}
upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.” How does this relate to an
understanding that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, the penalty that he paid
for us, was spiritual, and spiritual death as opposed
to his physical death? We have to understand the distinction. First of all we
have to understand that it is a total package and there are two dimensions to
that whole package, a physical dimension and a spiritual dimension.
We have to recognise that
Christ died two deaths on the cross. How do we know that? Isaiah 53:9 NASB
“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.”
The word for “death” here it the Hebrew word moth, and it refers to death but it is a plural noun. It refers to
deaths. There is clearly in Hebrew the possibility that a plural noun can refer
to something as intense, as a plural of intensity. So we have to look at the
Scriptures to see if there are any other references to Christ’s death as a
plural. Colossians 2:12 NASB “having been buried with Him in
baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working
of God, who raised Him from the dead.” The word for “dead” is the Greek word nekros [nekroj] in the plural—“raised Him from the deaths.” nekros is almost always used to refer to
physical death in the Scriptures, whereas thanatos
[qanatoj] is generally reserved for spiritual death. So here
the word nekros is used and it is
indicating that there is something more than just one death here.
Genesis 2:17 NASB “but from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you
will surely die.” Penalty refers to a judgmental punishment, the announcement of
a judicial sentence from the Supreme Court of heaven. That is different from
the consequences. The text here use the word “for,” the Hebrew preposition which
has a strong causal sense and here He is giving the reason for the mandate; “in
the day,” that day, not ten years later, “you will surely die.” Some have
translated this, “dying, you will die.” Genesis
18:10 NASB “He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next
year…” That term “surely return” translates a perfect verb plus an infinitive
absolute. Does it make sense to translate to translate that, “returning, I will
return”? The Hebrew grammars all indicate that this kind of construction
indicate emphasis or certainty. That is what God is really saying there, I will
definitely, you can count on it.” It is not a process, there aren’t two
returns. There is only one return and it is emphatic. Genesis 19:9 NASB
“But they said, ‘Stand aside.’ Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an
alien, and already he is acting like a judge…” That phrase “acting like a judge”
translates a double verb like this again and it is not the idea of two acts of
judging but it is talking about the definiteness, the certainty of his action. Genesis
15:13 NASB “{God} said to Abram, “Know for
certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs…”
The phrase “know for certain” is a qal perfect plus
the infinitive absolute. Would that be two types of knowledge or one type of
knowledge? It is “know for sure, know for certainty.” Other passages that
illustrate this are Genesis 26:11; Judges 13:22; 1 Samuel 14:39; 2 Samuel 12:49;
Jeremiah 26:8. So what we learn from looking at Genesis 2:17 is that God is saying that something specific and
definite is going to occur the instant that they eat from the tree. We know
that Adam did not die physically the instant he ate from the tree so God must
have indicated something other than physical death by the mandate. What he
indicated was spiritual death.
The curse is not the
penalty; the penalty was spiritual death. What is
outlined in the curse is the consequences of that spiritual death. What we
discover is that the penalty for sin was spiritual death for mankind but this reverberated
throughout the entire creation. It is not just that Adam and the woman now have
a problem understanding and relating to God but that there is a radical
transformation that takes place throughout the universe. Genesis 3:13 NASB “Then the LORD God said to
the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ And the woman said, ‘The serpent
deceived me, and I ate’.” Now there are consequences to man’s failure. [14] “The
LORD
God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than
all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat All the days of your life;” There is going to be an extra
dimension to the curse on the serpent that goes beyond the dimension of the
physical consequences to all of the animals. [16] “To the woman He said, ‘I
will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain
you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he
will rule over you’.” This affects man physically, especially the woman. The woman
had the potential prior to the fall and there would not have been pain. The
very fact that there is a monthly cycle which produces blood, incidentally, must
be followed through the Scriptures. When we get into the Levitical sacrifices
it is during that monthly cycle that the woman is ceremonially unclean and
cannot go into the tabernacle or the temple. Why? Because blood is significant
of the curse and is a reminder of the fact that sin separates man from God. All
of these things are representative. [17] “Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you
have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about
which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the
ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life’.” So
now the ground becomes cursed. There is a physical consequence to Adam’s
spiritual failure. [18] “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you…” What
happened during Christ’s physical torture was that they put a crown of thorns on
his head. This represents the physical dimension of the consequences of sin—not
the penalty but the physical consequences of sin. So there is going to be a
problem from sin that is going to reverberate throughout the universe. All of
the created order is unlike it was when it was created.
Therefore when you go out
and analyse molecules and various geological structures in the world and then
try to extrapolate back to creation, you can’t get there. You can’t come up
with anything definite because something radical happened at the fall, so
radical that we can’t push beyond that because the very structure of the
universe was radically altered. So we can’t get back to anything through
science that would even guess at a clue to origins because the data has been
altered and cursed.
The entire universe,
therefore, is affected by Adam’s decision. Romans 8:18 NASB “For I consider that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be
revealed to us.” The point that Paul is making is that we might suffer
all kinds of things in this world related to spiritual growth, but when we
compare that with what we are going to get out of it in terms of eternity there
is no comparison and it will fade away. [19] “For the anxious longing of the
creation [the physical universe] waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of
God.” This is what takes place when the church age believers
return in glory withy the Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Advent. [20] “For the
creation was subjected [passive verb here, the creation did not subject itself]
to futility [mataiotes; mataiothj], not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it,
in hope [21] that the creation itself also will be set free from
its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
The words “set free” relate to the doctrine of redemption. Because Christ paid
the penalty for sin there is the setting free. The whole concept of redemption
is not just the payment of a price but to set the slave free. But not only has
man been enslaved but all of creation has become subjected to the consequence
of sin. [22] “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains
of childbirth together until now.” So this is the point of Romans
chapter eight, that the entire universe is affected by Adam’s decision and that
this curse is rolled back or reversed at the second coming.
Redemption means to
purchase or to set free. So it has a broader meaning than simply paying the
price for sin, it is focusing on the ultimate result of that payment, a physical
dimension that reverberates throughout the created realm.
1 Corinthians 15 is the
benchmark chapter on resurrection. Resurrection is not a spiritual concept, it
is a physical concept. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead we are
talking about physical, bodily resurrection. Resurrection is a physical transformation;
the corrupt takes on incorruption. 1 Corinthians 15:20 NASB “But now Christ has been raised from
the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. [21] For since by a man
{came} death, by a man also {came} the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in
Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.” This is not talking
about spiritual death here because we are not talking about a spiritual
resurrection. This is talking about physical death because the subject is
resurrection. Physical death is a result of being in Adam. (Therefore if you
have one fossil developed prior to Genesis chapter three then you destroy the
Bible. A fossil is formed because a creature died then death is not the result
of sin and Jesus didn’t need to die on the cross. Therefore that is why the
whole evolutionary scheme or any compromise with it is a direct Satanic assault on the necessity of the cross)
1 Corinthians 15:35 NASB “But someone will say, ‘How are the
dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?’” You see, there is a
physical dimension to the cross. The spiritual penalty is paid with physical
consequences. The physical consequences are that we can be resurrected
physically and the earth can be redeemed physically back into its original
condition. [36] “You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it
dies; [37] and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but
a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else…. [47] “The first man is
from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. [48] As is the earthy,
so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who
are heavenly.” The point that Paul is making is that the corrupt fallen body
cannot put on incorruption. That is further developed
in [51] “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all
be changed.” Why d we have to be changed? Because the
physical dimension needs to be worked out in terms of redemption. [52] “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we will be changed. [53] For this perishable must put on the imperishable,
and this mortal must put on immortality.” So physical
resurrection and transformation to the resurrection body is the consequence of
Christ’s payment on the cross. That is why when Christ goes to the cross
there is both a physical suffering dimension, a physical
death dimension and a physical resurrection because the physical is the
consequence of the spiritual.
The physical dimension of
the curse is reversed at the second coming, and we see this in Isaiah 11:4 NASB
“But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for
the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His
mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. [5] Also
righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And
faithfulness the belt about His waist.” And notice it has a physical dimension.
[6] “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the
leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and
the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them.” Once again, there will
be a reversal of the curse. [7] “Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat
straw like the ox. [8] The nursing child will play by the hole of
the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on
the viper’s den. [9] They will not hurt or destroy in
all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the
waters cover the sea.” So what we see is that there will be a reversal of all
of the consequential damage from sin in the Millennial
kingdom.
The physical suffering of
Christ included the physical death of Christ and all of this relates to the
consequences of sin but not the judicial penalty of sin. Christ’s spiritual death
on the cross when he was separated judicially from God the Father in those
three hours paid the penalty for sin. Christ’s physical sufferings showed that
he conquered the physical consequences of sin. This is the point at the end of 1
Corinthians 15 where we read NASB “O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is
the law; but thanks be to God, who gives
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”