“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; ‘He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!” Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother's womb you have been my God. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help. Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death. For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet, I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!” (Psalm 22:1, 7-19 ESV)
I want you to know that the most important time in the history of this world was three days and three nights. If everything had not gone right during those three days and three nights, you or I would not be in this present world. Everything that God had planned was all dependent upon three days and three nights. Every future victory for all of mankind was dependent on what happened during those three days and three nights.
I want to show you what went on behind the scenes during those three days and three nights. I want to show you what happens when you read a Scripture, but you don't read between the Scriptures. I want to show you what happened historically that you might not even be aware of.
First, let's take a look at that very first morning of that first day. The city of Jerusalem is alive with activity as the people prepare for the feast of Passover. The streets are thronged with busy people hurrying to and fro. The temple area is being prepared for the day's activities. The bleating of sheep is heard in almost every area of the city. This would be a glorious day. Or would it?
You see, while all of that was going on, on the other side of town, there was a beating going on. A man has been stripped totally naked, and He has been tied to a post in front of a Roman legionnaire that is holding a Cat O’ 12 Tails. This was a long leather whip, called a scourging whip, that had 12 different strands that came out of it. At the end of each strand, they were dipped in Rosen, a sticky substance that will cause things to grab a hold of it. They would then take these 12 tips of these strands, and they would cover them with rocks, bone, metal or anything else they could find embedded into those rosin tips. When that soldier would take that whip and come across the back of that man, the ends of those 12 straps would wrap around the body and the rosin would stick to the skin, and then those pieces of metal, bone or stone would tear into the flesh and rip open the flesh as that Roman legion near jerked the whip back again. The pain was so severe that there are actual historical references that say that some men would actually bite their tongues in half because of the pain. And here stands the Son of God.
Here stands the Son of God, who was sent by the Father to rescue humanity. Here stands the Son of God in all of His glory, all of His power, in all of His splendor, all wrapped up into a fleshly man, that He might suffer and die for the sins of mankind. I am sure that satan and his minions were taking delight in watching this brutal and savage beating that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was taking. I'm sure that they thought “we've got him now, he's been arrested, he is going to be defeated.” I can even see in my imagination the demonic hordes of darkness betting on would Jesus be able to even last and even survive such a savage beating?
Please allow me to tell you something. Jesus stood there as not only the Son of God, but as a man's man. He stood there tough as nails and took all of the pain that came His way. If you somehow think that God numbed the pain in the body of Jesus you are sadly mistaken. When those lashes came down upon His body, God didn't numb the pain. He felt the pain, just like you or I would. He had to feel it. He had to feel it in order that He could go through the necessary procedures that God had instituted for not only the salvation of mankind, but for the healing of our bodies.
Many people believe that Jesus only received 39 stripes. That is not correct. There is not a single Scripture in the Bible that indicates how many lashes Jesus received. Deuteronomy 25:3 states that a Jewish criminal should not receive more than forty lashes. In order to avoid possibly accidentally breaking this command, the Jews would only give a criminal 39 lashes. But there is no reason to believe that the Romans would follow a Jewish tradition. Scourging was the punishment ordered for Jesus by Pontius Pilate to his Roman soldiers. But let’s just say, for argument's sake, that the Legionnaire did in fact give Jesus 39 lashes. If you were to total the total individual stripes that Jesus took for our suffering, for our sickness, for our disease, it would come up to 468 individual stripes upon His body.
Regardless of how many times the Roman Legionnaire came across the body of our Savior, it was a horrible and extremely brutal beating. The Bible says in Isaiah 52:14 (NIV) that the scourging was so horrible that after they were through with Jesus, you couldn’t even recognize Him, much less that He was even a human being. Here’s what it says, “Just as there were many who were appalled at Him–His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.”
Why? Why did our Lord have to endure such pain? For our healing! For every disease that man would ever have, there was a lash on the body of Jesus that would cover that disease. Praise God! For the Bible said, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquity; and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes you were healed.” (emphasis mine)
Now we come to the most mysterious part of this moment in history–the Cross. Why did God choose a cross for his Son to die upon? Why couldn't they have just speared him to death? Why couldn't they have just stoned him to death? Allow me to tell you why. I think it will surprise you.
Did you know that according to Jewish law, a blasphemer was to be stoned, not crucified? They said because He claimed to be the Son of God that He had blasphemed. According to Jewish law, a blasphemer was always to be stoned while standing on the Mount of Olives while facing the Holy of Holies. But Jesus wasn't stoned. Why? It was because Barabbas was supposed to be crucified, and the Jews told the Romans to do to Jesus what was supposed to be done to Barabbas. But more importantly, it wasn't God's plan for His Son to be stoned to death. You see, if He had been stoned, there were certain people appointed by Rome to handle the body and to dispose of it. But God's plan was that His body had to go into a tomb and be covered with a stone, so that when He arose from the grave, everybody would know it. Everybody would know that He is risen!
But why a cross? Well, there are actually many reasons. Everything from all the way back to the first Passover where the death angel saw a cross of blood over every doorpost; to Herod’s temple being in the shape of a cross; to the order of the Tabernacle instruments being in a cross pattern. It goes on and on. Example after example of the future cross of Calvary.
But perhaps the main reason for the cross is because a few thousand years previously, while the children of Israel were in the desert, God told Moses to make a brazen serpent and hang it on a pole. Why a serpent? Because it represented sin. And it was Jesus Himself that said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so I must be lifted up, and I will draw all men unto me.” The Bible then further explains it, when it says, “He that knew no sin became sin.” You see? As all of those crowds were in Jerusalem that day, bringing their lambs to be offered as a sacrifice for their family and for the sins of the nation, here was Jesus, the Spotless Lamb of God being prepared to be offered. And while He was on the cross, God put the weight of all the sins of the world upon Him. He took the sins of the world and nailed them to the cross. And that's the reason you and I are saved right now. That's the reason that you and I have victory over the enemy right now. That's the reason why you and I can be mighty spiritual warfighters in the Kingdom of God right now. It was because of Jesus' sacrifice!
So now, they take Jesus and they place Him on the cross. They nail His hands to the cross. They nail His feet to the cross. They lifted up the cross, and they dropped the bottom of it with a dull thud into the hole of the earth they have already dug. And when it hits, Jesus’ flesh rips and tears, and He agonizingly hangs upon the cross suspended between heaven and earth. But as they placed Him upon that cross, there were things that were starting to happen, not in the natural realm, but in the supernatural realm. All of the spirit world became alive with activity. I told you that these three days and three nights are the most important in the history of mankind, and the spirit world knew it as well.
There were probably some demons that were saying, ”We're glad You're on that cross–no more trips into drowning pigs.” Other demons could have said, “We're glad You're on that cross–no more journeys to dry places.” Still others possibly could have said, “We're glad You're on that cross–no more having to come out of warm human bodies. We're glad you're on that cross.”
But it went way beyond just that. In Psalm 22 verse 12 it said, “Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me; they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.” In the original language, the original word for bulls is a-beer, and it doesn't mean a four-footed animal with horns. It translates as the strongest demon spirit in the satanic kingdom. These bulls, these huge demons, had surrounded Jesus on the cross. The King James Version of that same verse says, “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.” The word for “many” here is rab which means a multitude. While Jesus was hanging on that cross, in the spirit realm, the strongest demonic forces of darkness were encircling our Jesus, opening their mouths at him like roaring and ravening and raging lions. Oh, what did Jesus have to endure for our salvation?
Now, pay attention to verse 16 where it says, “For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.” The Hebrew word for “dogs” is keleb which also does not mean a four-footed animal. It means an attacker. In most English versions when it says, “they have pierced my hands and feet,” it does not convey the original meaning from the original language. Allow me to show you what the original intent of this verse was. It says, “Dogs (or the attackers) surround me; a pack of evil ones closes in on me, like lions they maul my hands and feet.”
Please understand what I'm trying to show you here. As a spiritual warfighter in the Kingdom of Heaven, you have victory because of the price that was paid for you by your Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ. On Golgotha's rugged hill it wasn't just priests and pharisees and followers looking on. Every power and every principality and force that the devil had was there too, to see this man named Jesus die on a cross.
When He had finally cried out, “It is finished” and yielded up the ghost and died, don't you know that probably all of the demonic forces of darkness started to celebrate all around that cross? Don't you know that old Lucifer himself is probably dancing a jig all about? But Hallelujah, the party wasn't going to last long! Jesus was getting ready to crash their little party. How do I know that? I know it because in Matthew 12:40 it says, “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Three days and three nights. That's all. And then Jesus came marching back up out of hell with the keys of death, hell, and the grave in His hands.
Can you imagine what it was like whenever Jesus came walking into paradise, down there in the heart of the earth? Can you imagine what kind of a church service they must have had whenever Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua and David finally got to see their long-awaited Messiah? If you think Paul and Silas praising in the midnight hour and their jail cell being rocked open through a mighty earthquake was something, can you imagine how the earth quaked down in paradise?
On that first day I can see a conversation going on down in the pits of this earth. On the first day I see Sin walk up to Death and say, “You know, I never could get Him for 33 1/2 years. I was never able to get Him with sin. Are you sure you've got Him Death? I can then see Death as he answers back. “What do you mean, am I sure? Of course, I'm sure.” Then on the second day I can see Sin walk back up to Death again and say, “How's everything going?” Death responds, “Oh, it's just fine. They're all over there in paradise having church, but I don't mind. Just as long as I still got them.” Then the third day rolls around and this time I can see Sin and the devil both walking up to Death and saying< Hey Death, what's going on? Up there in Jerusalem this morning, there was a major earthquake. You still have Him, don't you?” And I can see Death as he responds, “You ain't gonna believe what happened early this morning. He walked out of here with all the people in paradise. And they were singing a song that said ‘Oh Death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?’”
Dear friend, we can have victory in every battle because of what Jesus did. We are promised victory in every war against satan and his minions. We are promised that everything has been placed underneath our feet. All power and majesty and glory belongs to Christ and is to be given to Christ because He and He alone is worthy. He has paid the price. He has conquered sin. He has conquered death. He has conquered Hell. He has conquered satan. He has conquered the forces of darkness. He has conquered everything that could ever come against us. And now we, as spiritual warfighters for the Kingdom of the Most High God, can march forth into battle knowing that if “He is for us, who can be against us?”