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Coping with Life 5 – Suffering 2
Coping with Life 5 – Suffering 2
By Mike Willis
The story of Jesus adds a remarkable dimension to the problem of suffering. Jesus was God incarnate, coming into a world of sin and suffering. God was so full of mercy toward mankind that He Himself became a man. To redeem mankind from sin, Jesus suffered as a man.
Before His crucifixion, He was beaten with lashes, leaving his back lacerated and bloody. His death was preceded by a relatively short, but intense, period of pain.
Jesus died by crucifixion, one of the most painful forms of capital punishment mankind has ever devised. Despite knowing what lay before Him, Jesus refused to drink wine mixed with gall, which served as a pain killer, in order that He might experience pain with full and unimpaired consciousness (Matt. 27:34). Roman soldiers secured Jesus to the cross by driving nails in his hands and in his feet (the bones of a man crucified in the first century still have the crooked nail in its ankle bone).
Death by crucifixion was not a quick way to die. Jesus suffered mockery from His enemies (men spat on Him and struck Him on the head, Matt. 27:30; they said, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross,” Matt. 27:40). He became thirsty (John 19:28 ). Death by crucifixion comes when one becomes too weak to push up with his legs sufficiently to take in a deep breath, so he suffocates.
God knows human suffering because He experienced it! No person is more qualified than Jesus to help us through the painful and difficult times of one’s life. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
