108 - The Physical Suffering of Christ

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."