“Marred More Than Any Man”

Back to The True Jesus Christ Unknown to Christianity

With Jesus’ fate sealed, Pilate sent Him to be scourged and crucified—one of the most excruciating and reprehensible forms of death that man has ever devised.

While various forms of crucifixion were used, we will describe one possible method.

To begin the horrible ordeal, Jesus is stripped of His clothing and His hands are bound to a post above His head. A Roman legionnaire steps forward with a flagellum—a short whip with jagged pieces of bone, glass and metal tied into nine strips of leather. This gruesome instrument of torture is commonly referred to as a cat-o’-nine-tails.

The heavy whip is brought down without mercy, over and over again, across Jesus’ shoulders, back and legs. At first, the flagellum cuts through the skin only. But as the blows continue, they cut deeper into the flesh, causing blood to ooze from the capillaries and veins. Blood then begins to spurt from smaller arteries in the underlying muscles.

The flagellum produces large, deep bruises, which are then ripped open by succeeding blows. In time, the skin of Jesus’ back is hanging in long ribbons, like spaghetti. The entire area is an unrecognizable bloody mass of torn flesh.

The severe beating is halted when the Roman centurion in charge has determined that Jesus is near death.

Under the proficiency of His tormentor, it was not long until Isaiah 52:14 was fulfilled: “Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men” (NKJV). Jesus was literally beaten beyond recognition. His appearance did not remotely resemble the popular idea of His Body on the stake.

Though the Jews had a law that prohibited more than 39 lashes, there is speculation that the Romans would not have made any attempt to obey the statute.

At this point, Jesus is close to being in shock. One can only imagine the agonizing pain pulsing throughout His nervous system. He is then untied from the post and allowed to fall to the ground—soaked in His own blood. The soldier performing the beating notices a great irony in a “simple, unsophisticated Jew” claiming to be a king. A robe is thrown across Jesus’ shoulders, and a stick is placed in His hand, like a sceptre. To complete the mockery, flexible branches covered with long thorns are formed into a crown and pressed firmly into Jesus’ scalp. Since the scalp is one of the most vascular areas of the body, profuse bleeding begins almost immediately.

The soldiers proceed to mock Jesus and strike Him across the face. “Hail, King of the Jews” came the humiliating epitaphs. They then take His “scepter” and strike Him on the head—the thorns driven deeper. At last, the soldiers grow weary of their vicious attack and tear off Jesus’ robe. This causes agonizing pain, similar to carelessly removing a surgical bandage, due to His robe having bonded to the clots of blood and serum in His wounds. Significant bleeding takes place once again, as though He were being whipped with the flagellum.

Ironically, in respect of Jewish custom, the Roman soldiers return Jesus’ garments, and then make Him carry a long wooden beam along His back. The condemned “criminal,” along with the Roman soldiers, begins His slow journey to the site of the crucifixion, Golgotha. Jesus struggles to walk uprightly, but considering the immense weight of the wooden beam and the state of near shock produced by incredible blood loss, He constantly falls. The weight is too much to bear. The beam gouges into the shredded skin and muscles of the shoulders. Jesus tries to rise, but the endurance of His muscles has been exceeded.

Did Jesus Die of a “Broken Heart”? In the final hours of Jesus’ death, He was nailed to a stake, positioned between two criminals also being crucified. At Pilate’s command, Roman soldiers broke legs of the criminals to hasten their death. (Unable to heave themselves higher with their legs, they would slowly suffocate, unable to get air into crushed lungs.) When soldiers came to break Christ’s legs, they discovered Him already dead (John 19:32). They were surprised; crucifixion was designed to be a torturous process intended to extend one’s final hours so their last moments would be agonizing.

But Jesus had already died—why?

As with other myths and false teachings, an idea arose long after the gospel accounts were written and canonized: “Jesus died of a broken heart.” In other words, “His heart ruptured under the emotional weight of being tortured, humiliated, rejected and scorned.”

Those who believe this use the following “proof” to support their thinking: When a soldier had thrust a spear into Christ’s side, blood and water gushed out—“evidence” (they claim) that tears had welled up and collected around Jesus’ heart, and that when He was pierced, His “broken heart” could not take it anymore, bringing death. But was Jesus so physically and emotionally weak that He could not endure what crucified criminals could? (Remember, their deaths were hastened; had their legs not been broken, the criminals would have stayed alive hours longer.)

Jesus was a carpenter for years before His earthly ministry began. He worked outside with His hands, arms and muscles, having to endure seasonal weather conditions. He obeyed God’s laws of good health. Violating them would have disqualified Jesus from becoming man’s sinless Saviour. In addition, as a carpenter, His profession required good health. The livelihood of the family depended on it.

Then there is Jesus’ ministry, which required that He travel from city to city, often long distances mostly by foot. He sometimes slept outdoors, breathing clean, fresh air. As He travelled, He was subject to changing weather conditions—summer heat, arid deserts, storms at sea, etc. Christ had to be incredibly strong—mentally, physically, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually—to withstand the ongoing battles, trials from temptations from Satan, the scribes and Pharisees, unbelievers, and of course from His own flesh.

Obviously, Jesus Christ was not a weakling—far from it! His heart would not have suddenly “broken” under even extreme pressure. His had been a life of pressure and physical demands. Then what did kill the Saviour—what did cause Him to die?

The Passover Lamb

Let’s switch to the first Passover, when the Israelites were in Egypt about to be delivered from slavery. God ordered each family to sacrifice a lamb. It had to be young, physically perfect (without blemish or defect), and without broken bones. Families were to roast and eat it. That Passover night, the Death angel “passed over” their homes, sparing the lives of those houses “sprinkled” with the blood of a lamb. The blood is what saved Israel’s firstborn sons from death.

How did the Passover lamb die? We might ask if it could die “of itself.” No, or God would have forbidden them to eat it: “And the fat of the beast that dies of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but you shall in no wise eat of it” (Lev. 7:24). “That which dies of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am the LORD.” (Lev 22:8). “You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you shall give it unto the stranger that is in your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it unto an alien: for you are an holy people unto the LORD your God” (Deut. 14:21).

So how did the lamb die? “…the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it” (Ex. 12:6)—it was put to death! They put a knife to the lamb and shed its blood. THIS caused its death.

Return to considering Christ. As “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36), Jesus gave the supreme sacrifice. As with the original Passover lamb, which typed Him, Jesus was young (He died in His early 30s), perfect (like His Father – John 10:30; Matt. 5:48), innocent (without sin – Heb. 4:15), defenceless (by choice – John 18:36; Acts 8:32), and His bones were not broken (John 19:34).

As with the Passover lamb, Christ was “stricken” (Isa. 53:8)—which means “a blow, stroke, wound, mark, to strike violently.” He was slain—He did not, and could not, in any sense, die “of Himself.”

Why? “For the transgression of My people was He stricken” (same verse). Mankind’s sins (I John 3:4; Rom. 3:23) caused the death of God’s Son (Rom. 6:23).

In the Blood

Remember, Isaiah 53:12 foretold critical elements of Jesus’ death and sacrifice: “Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

How did Christ “pour out His soul unto death”?

The word for “soul” in Hebrew is nephesh, meaning “a breathing creature,” a “living being (with life in the blood).” Blood contains life within it: “Only be sure that you eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and you may not eat the life with the flesh” (Deut. 12:23).

So when Jesus “poured out His soul unto death,” He did so by pouring out His blood to the point where He could no longer live. He did not die of a “broken heart”—He bled to death! This is why He said, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

A Missing Passage

Now let’s study John 19:1-42. The passage reads as though it is in time sequence: (1) In Jn 19:31-32, Pilate ordered his soldiers to speed up the deaths of those crucified by breaking their legs; (2) in Jn 19:33, the soldiers intended to break Jesus’ legs, but He was already dead; (3) the next verse states that a soldier pierced the side of the dead body, resulting in water and blood coming out.

Here is the point: If Christ was already dead when His blood came out, then He did not bleed to death—which means the prophecy of Isaiah 53:12 failed because Jesus did not “pour out His soul [contained in blood] unto death”—therefore, He was not “stricken” for the sins of mankind, paying the death penalty in man’s stead, since He was no longer alive when He was pierced.

As with any aspect of careful Bible study, we must tie scripture to scripture, “precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little,” like a spiritual jigsaw puzzle to get the full picture of any teaching (Isa. 28:9-10, 13).

Let’s now tie John 19:1-42 with Matthew 27:46-50.

In Mt 27:46-47, Jesus cried aloud from the cross: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”). Onlookers thought He was calling for Elijah the prophet. While some wanted to give Jesus vinegar to drink, others said, “Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him” (Mt 27:49). The next verse states, “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost [spirit].”

The King James Version of the Bible and most other translations record Mt 27:49-50 similarly. However, a careful examination of the original Greek text reveals there is another sentence included in Mt 27:49, missing from most Bible translations!

Note the Fenton translation: “But the others called out, ‘Let Him alone! Let us see whether Elijah will come and save Him!’ But another taking a spear pierced His side, when blood and water came out. Jesus, however, having again called out with a loud voice, resigned His spirit.”

Now read Moffatt: “But the others said, ‘Stop, let us see if Elijah does come to save Him!’ (Seizing a lance, another pierced His side, and out came water and blood.) Jesus again uttered a loud scream, and gave up His spirit.”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary states this: “After this verse, BCL and five others add, Another, taking a spear, pierced his side, and there came out blood and water. Several of the fathers add the same words here: they appear, however, to be an interpolation from John 19:34.”

A margin note in the Revised Standard states, “Other ancient authorities insert And another took a spear and pierced His side, and out came water and blood.”

It was at THIS point when the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side—when He was still alive! It was for THIS reason Christ, in Matthew 27:50, “cried again with a loud voice, [and] yielded up the ghost [spirit]”—He screamed in pain when the spear pierced His side!

John 19:34 did not happen after Jesus was dead. The verse is not written in time sequence with the preceding verses. The gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke are called “synoptic gospels.” They follow the same general timeframe of Jesus Christ’s life and ministry, and thus supplement each other in understanding the time sequence. But the book of John is different, emphasizing themes more than time sequence. In this case, the next two verses, including Jn 19:34, were used to verify WHAT happened (the fulfilment of a prophecy), not the precise moment when it happened.

Blood and Water When Jesus was pierced, blood and water gushed out—why? It was not water that came from Christ—it was urine. The soldier’s spear had pierced a number of internal organs also causing Jesus to bleed massively. This in part explains why His corpse, even after being in the tomb for three days and three nights, had not yet decayed (Acts 2:27; 13:35). There was no blood in the body to corrupt the flesh!

Christ’s flesh was not supernatural or “other worldly.” He was mortal just like all men (Heb. 2:14), except He was God. When He, as the Word, became flesh, He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:7-8).

Consider this: Genesis 9:5-6 states, “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheds man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man.”

Jesus died to pay for ALL the world’s transgressions against God’s Law, including murder (which includes hatred toward one’s neighbour—the spirit of murder – Matt. 5:21-22). He paid the penalty for those who have murdered, who have shed the blood of others, by shedding His own blood!

Jesus Christ is mankind’s Saviour, not because He “died of a broken heart,” but because He literally poured out His life—His blood!—for the sins of humanity!

A soldier mercilessly barks, “Get up!”

Wanting to hasten the crucifixion, the centurion-in-charge selects an onlooker—Simon of Cyrene (Matt. 27:32)—to carry the beam. Jesus follows behind Simon, perhaps slightly relieved, but still bleeding and in near physical shock.

Next Part Crucifixion

Back to The True Jesus Christ Unknown to Christianity

Back to By David C. Pack

“Marred More Than Any Man”

Contents

Terrible Struggle

The Passover Lamb

In the Blood

A Missing Passage

A soldier mercilessly barks, “Get up!”