My Doctor says to feel pain is a good sign.
Pain is a part of the healing process. Just a few days ago I was suffering from muscle pain in my left arm, which runs to my back reaching to my left shoulder. After an X-ray test was performed on the site, I came home and did what the Doctor had told me to do. First I took one tablet of Vicodin and lying on my bed with an ice pack on the back to my left shoulder where the muscle pain was, my wife suggested putting a towel on my shoulder and not to apply the ice pack directly to my skin. But I insisted to just leave it there for a while so to relieve the pain fast, but because of the Vicodin I took I fell asleep. When I woke up I found out that the skin at the back of my shoulder was burnt. The outer skin protruded as big as the palm of my hand. It bubbled up like a small balloon with mix water and blood inside. I went to the Emergency at Kaiser Medical Center and was treated without anesthesia because it was just a minor injury. The Doctor peeled off the outer layer of the skin that swollen up then placed dressing on it with sulfadiazine cream applied. I was groaning with pain during the whole process but the Doctor told me that to feel pain is a good sign because if one losses sensation, it will be a worst scenario. And it would mean a third degree burn.
While driving back home I cannot even buckle my seat belt up because if my shoulder touches the back seat it would be more painful. I was agonizing. I felt excruciating pain even after I took a tablet for pain relief when we arrived home, and while I was in that condition I suddenly remembered the Scripture. I asked myself, “How much more did the Lord Jesus suffer physically on the cross just to redeem us from our sins?”
This is the Biblical description of the suffering of Christ on the cross.
Before Jesus was crucified, before He was scourged he was brutally beaten by the mob. Let us read Mark 14:65, “And some began to spit at Him, and to blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in the face.” According to Isaiah 50:6, it says, “People pluck out His beard while spitting on His face.”
Mark 15:15-20: “And wishing to satisfy the multitude, Pilate released Barabas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he delivered Him to be crucified. And the soldiers took Him away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman cohort. And they dressed Him up in purple, and after weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they kept beating His head with a reed, and spitting at Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. And after they had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, and put His garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.”
To be scourged under the Roman method the victim was to be stripped, stretched with cords or thongs on a frame, and beaten with rods or flagellum. Jesus was scourged with whips made of leather that had sharp bones or glass at each end of each tongs. While it striped across Jesus, they pulled it hard leaving strips of wounds to the bare body of the Lord. Forty lashes was the maximum.
Before He was scourged with a flagellum, His face was already swollen that He hardly looked human. Let us read Isaiah 52:14 and the more you compare different translations, the Lord’s appearance becomes vivid and horrifying. If anyone who will not be shocked and be moved with pity in his heart with this description, I don’t know what kind of a human being one can be.
(New American Standard Version) “His appearance was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.”
(New International Version) “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness.”
(Today’s English Version) “He hardly looked human.”
Any picture you will see or any idol you see of Christ’s crucifixion is not the real picture. It is a lie. The Bible clearly says that Jesus’ face was so disfigured that He hardly looked human.
Exhausted from being beaten and from scourging, the crown of thorns that the tormentors put on him pierced through His head that blood was oozing down His face. Worn out of His strength they pressed Simon of Cyrene, a passer-by to help Jesus carry the cross.
The Bible says He was naked. (Mark 15:24), “They took His garments and divided up among themselves casting lots for them to decide what each should take.”
Jesus was crucified in a public place. He was displayed naked to the public to be humiliated. He was nailed to the cross hanging there long enough that to catch His breath, He needed to push upward with His feet that were also nailed to the wood. His weight, as a regular man may weigh between 180 to 200 pounds. He was so tired and out of strength that naturally His weight would pull Him down. He would push up again to catch a breath. Up and down again and again with such excruciating pain He must have felt all over His body. He suffered long enough because of His love for us. It was for us that he was crucified, but He carried our sins to the cross. He was crushed for our iniquities.
That very situation from the Scripture came to my mind while I was agonizing from my second-degree burn on my back just as big as the palm of my hand. Compared to what the Lord had experienced physically, all that we may suffer is nothing! The price that our Lord paid for our sins was priceless or invaluable. It cost Him His very own life. He shed His unblemished blood to wash us from our sins. (Hebrews 9:22)
(Isaiah 53:4-5) “Surely our griefs He Himself bore. And our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteem Him stricken. Smitten of God, and afflicted. 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.”
Before a wound can be healed if treated properly, it will experience tremendous pain. Telling the truth about the Bible hurts. Telling the truth about pure doctrine hurts. Yes God is a loving God. God is a merciful God. God is a compassionate God, but when it comes to sin because His Only Begotten Son Jesus suffered on the cross, no way that He will tolerate sin. Enough for sugar quoted messages for the sake of political correctness! Enough for half-truth and half lie! The messages in the Bible are offensive. When Jesus said that no one could come to the Father but through Him alone, it is offensive to other religions. The truth hurts. It hurts because of pride but the antidote of pride is humility and repentance. It is good if someone feels hurt in hearing the message of truth because it is a sign of speedy recovery.
The messages in my website from the introduction to the last topic that I brought out are offensive to a religious and close minded person but what can I do? I am just telling the truth. Take it or leave it.
