“Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will
not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:3)
For
all those who think their walk with God is difficult, consider this: an innocent man was dragged off, beaten repeatedly,
had a crown of 1”-2” Judean thorns beaten down upon His head, had his body
brutally lacerated, was made to carry his own cross and then nailed to it and hung
between earth and sky to die.
The lacerations
came from a scourge (see below) which was meant to torture the recipient. There’s
debate as to whether Christ carried just the cross beam of a two piece cross
known as a “Low Tau” cross or the entire cross (see below). Depending on which school of thought you line
up with, the weight of it was estimated to have been anywhere from 75 – 300
lbs. And this Jesus did after He had a
great loss of blood.
Think of the
humiliation and shame he endured. This
was God’s plan to rescue mankind from themselves. So do not grow weary and lose heart in your walk
with God. Think of the great price that
has been paid for your redemption and rejoice with a grateful heart. Until next time, walk with the King and be a
blessing!
SCOURGE - called
the "flagrum" or "flagellum" was a short whip made of two
or three leather (ox-hide) thongs or ropes connected to a handle as in the
sketch above. The leather thongs were knotted with a number of small
pieces of metal, usually zinc and iron, attached at various intervals.
Scourging would quickly remove the skin. According to history the punishment of
a slave was particularly dreadful. The leather was knotted with bones, or heavy
indented pieces of bronze. [www.bible-history.com]
THE
CROSS – Pictured above are three types of crosses
commonly used by the Roman
army in the first century A.D. Each carried an inscription stating the victim's
capital offense and a seat-like projection, not designed for the victim's
comfort, but to prolong their agony.
Nails and ropes held the victim's legs and arms in place. The cross on the left was called a
“high tau” cross because it was shaped like the capital Greek letter tau
(“T”). The middle cross was known as a “low tau” cross, shaped like the
lower case tau (“t”). In both cases the central post was generally set
permanently in the ground while the cross bar was carried to the site by the
victim. The cross on the right was an actual tree still in the ground (dead or
alive) with its limbs serving as the cross bar. Jesus was probably crucified on
a“low tau” type cross. [www.bible-history.com]
