Jesus Foretold: Suffers Indignities (MP 76)

Would Allah, or any god contrived by man, Submit to such indignities as those Jesus Christ endured to redeem the clan From condemnation Adam did impose? Before Jesus, the world had never seen Great love like His, that while He was hated so, He laid down His life, haters to redeem, That to death His own killers might not go! I can’t decide for you; neither will He; Jesus died for you and me, in our place; I love and choose the One who died for me, Not him who beheads those who will not give! My God planned to die, ere Time began; For me, and indignities to withstand! Scripture Quoted (NIV) [Brackets added] Prophecy Made: Isaiah 50:6—“I [Jesus] offered my back to those [Roman soldiers] who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.” (Written in the 7th century B.C.) Prophecy Fulfilled: Matthew 27:27-31—“Then the governor’s [Pontius Pilate] soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews,’ they said. They spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After hey had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothing on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.” (Written in the 1st century A.D.) Commentary On: “Jesus Foretold: Suffers Indignities” Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, had questioned Jesus and had decided He was not guilty of any crime worthy of the death penalty. He had already had him beaten, in a vain attempt to mollify the Pharisees and leading priests; he offered them Barabbas, a known killer, to be crucified, hoping they would choose Jesus to release. None of his attempts to release the Messiah was accepted by the cruel mob, and so Pilate gave in to their demands rather than to have a bad report sent to his superiors about his administration of Judea. He, too, was guilty of killing the innocent Savior, because he did not have the fortitude to judge according to truth. It is difficult to explain, much less excuse, the Roman soldiers for their behind-the-scenes treatment of Jesus. They must have known how their own governor felt; it seems they should have treated Him nicely, simply because Pilate thought it unjust to crucify him. But no, the beast that lurks within the breasts of all men had its way with the soldiers, also. This is a prophecy about the coming Messiah that should have been easier for the Jews to understand, because it has nothing about the Second Coming of Jesus within it. There were many Jews who did apply these prophecies to Jesus of Nazareth and believed Him to be the promised One sent from God, even some Pharisees; however, the higher the position in religious circles, the least likely the believer was to make his belief known, because to do so would bring the animosity of the Sanhedrin upon him. Much is made over the suffering Jesus went through in His day of cruelty and crucifixion. Preachers of Christianity describe His treatment in graphic detail, so that non-believers will feel more inclined to “come down the aisle” in acceptance; every such effort is justified, for it would be impossible for words to adequately portray the tortures inflicted upon Jesus, who, after all, was innocent of wrongdoing and voluntarily enduring the mistreatment to save His enemies from the fires of hell. Nevertheless, the physical and mental torment the Lamb of God underwent was “small potatoes” in comparison to the psychological price He paid in subjecting Himself to indignities undeserved and so far unbefitting to the Creator of the world with the very individuals He created adding insult to indignity on top of physical abuse. Any god created by Man would have refused to undergo what Jesus endured even though that god may have been guilty of gross mischief upon them. More than anything else that could be said in behalf of Jehovah as the one God of mankind, His uncomplaining unresisting voluntary compliance in the travesty of justice imposed upon Him by the most despicable dregs of humanity implicated in His crucifixion prove Him to be Lord of lords and God of gods! “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the grave, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)