Every Kind Of Wound

Isa 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Zech 13:6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

The prophets foretold it, eternity awaited it, the fulfillment of the destiny of the Lamb, our sweet precious Savior.  Oh the Glory of the Cross…….Alas did my Savior bleed and did my soverign die…would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I…..There must be a time in every one of our lives as children of God that we recollect a place called Calvary.  Because if there had not be a Calvary then there would not have been a visitation at Pentecost…..without Pentecost there would not have been a church…..and without a church there would have not been any preachers and without any preachers there would have not been any preaching…..and without the preaching of the Gospel….there would have been no hope.  So we must be reminded that it is not the Church that culminates Calvary, but the true Church will Glory in the Cross.

Horrific, yet magnificent the sacrifice that was made there at Golgotha.  The very mention of his torture and murder brings a humbling spirit into the room.  A spirit of unworthiness accompanied with solemn gratitude.  He paid it all…..and all for me.  It is worthwhile to investigate His sufferings…to envision the entirety of His sacrifice.  The prophet Isaiah did just that as he caught a glimpse of that day……I would like to concentrate upon the first few words that the prophet spoke in verse 5.  He says “He was Wounded for our transgressions” Let us consider these words especially the word “Wounded”

The word wounded in the Hebrew is pronounced “chalah” which means:  An injury to the body in which the skin or other internal tissues are broken.

Did you know that our Lord Jesus Christ actually suffered every kind of wound known to medical science? Research has revealed that not only does the New Testament record the suffering of all types of flesh wounds by our Lord, but also that the Old Testament foretold that Jesus would suffer Every Kind of Wound.

The Wound of Bruising – Fists

 

The first of the types is foretold in our key verse when the prophet Isaiah said in vs 5. “He was bruised for our iniquities”, and yet again in verse 10 “Yet in pleased the Lord to bruise Him.”

Matthew later recorded the fulfillment of this verse. Can you imagine what he could have felt as he wrote the words in his 26^th chapter “Then they did spit in his face, and buffeted Him; and others smote Him with the palms of their hands.”

The word “buffet” means:  To strike with savage force, with a clinched fist.  Those who did not slap Him, physically punched him with such brutal force that it cause immediate facial bruising.  We know that these blows our Lord received were especially strong when you consider the skin of a carpenter.  The carpenter is a man of tough, resistant skin leathered from working His trade.  This lets us know that these clinched fisted blows were excessively strong to the point of altering the very facial features of Jesus.  We know this to be true for Isaiah saw it and wrote…….

Isaiah 52:14….”His visage was so marred more than any man”…..literally pulped and terribly augmented.  But why?   For What?………”for our iniquities”

The Wound of Laceration – Scourging

 

The second of the types of wounds that Jesus suffered for you and I, was foretold by a man named David. In his 129 Psalm he sings a mournful tune about the wound of laceration.

He pens “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth…..The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows”

This reminds us today of a farmer with his plowblade, breaking up the earth…..behind him is long furrows left from the cutting of the blade….Unfortunately, this analogy was referring to the wound being inflicted to the back of our Lord.

The New testament fulfillment is recorded in Matthew 27:26- Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

The “scourge” of the days of Pilate was not the “cat o’ nine tails” which is the common misconception. The “scourge” was so much more…..

The scourging post was two feet high. An iron ring, placed close to the top, projected from two sides. Clothing was ripped away from a prisoner so that he stood naked. Roman lectors were professionals. They confined their labors to the fine, brutal art of scourging, and they could beat a victim until only the barest spark of life remained.

Wrists were firmly shackled to the iron rings. Then the victim was stretched, face down, with his feet pointing away from the post.

The Roman scourge was a “flagra,” a short-handled whip consisting of several thin, iron chains which ended in small weights.

Scourging was called the “little death.” It preceded the “big death,” crucifixion.

Even the tension of awaiting the first blow was cruel. The body was rigid. The muscles knotted in tormenting cramps. Color drained from the cheeks. Lips were drawn tight against the teeth.

As the whip descended, the chains fanned out across the back, and each link cut through the skin and deep into the flesh, hideously gouging, and literally plowing it loose from the ribs and from the vertebrae . The weights crashed with bruising force into the ribs and curled bitingly around the chest.

When a man was scourged there was pain beyond the memory of pain. Sweat burst from the brow and stung the eyes. At the stroke of the flagra, a victim’s body twitched. The second stroke patterned the back and half of the chest with a V-shaped network of small cuts. There was only the blinding, burning pain as cruel whips whistled again and again through the air and across the back and shoulders.

Under the Hebrew law the strokes were limited to thirty-nine. Roman punishment was not so limited. There was only one rule for the lictor who scourged a man to be crucified: HE MUST NOT DIE. A spark of life must be sustained for the agony on the cross.

Men have bitten their tongues in two under such beatings..

This terrible torturing of the Lord was meaded out upon One who was without sin…literally fulfilling the prophecy…..”He was wounded for our transgressions”

The Wound of Penetration – Thorns

The third type of flesh wound inflicted upon Jesus is known as the wound of penetration.  This type of wound is cause by a sharp pointed metal or wooden object entering the flesh.

When Adam sinned in the Garden the ground that was once blessed became cursed.  The ground that once bore beautiful fruit and herb without Adam ever sweating to enjoying it, would now be cursed….But God used a symbolism when He told Adam….. Gen 3:17-18 – cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

Did you catch the symbol?  Thorns.  The thorns would be a symbol of the curse upon mankind.  God also used the word sorrow…..interpreted pain.

It is therefore fulfilled in Matthew 27:29 when he writes: “And when they had plated a crown of thorns, they put it upon His head”

Jesus Christ literally wore the symbol of the curse of mankind, thus fulfilling Isaiah…..”Surely he hath borne our sorrows.”

Matthew adds further detail as to the how the wound came about….vs 30 – “They took a reed and smote Him on the head” this drove the needle-pointed thorns deeper and deeper in cranial area, causing tributaries of blood to course down from these wounds of penetration.

It is no wonder that Isaiah wrote:

Isa 53:2 – he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him…..and we hid our faces from him;

In Christ’s beatened bloodied face we realize that he saved us, by receiving the wounds of penetration

The Wound Perforation – Nails

 

The fourth of the types of wounds suffered on our behalf by the precious Lord is foretold in Psalm 22: 16

Ps 22:16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

This is known as the wound of perforation, and its fulfillment is found recorded in the simple statement in Matthew 27:35

Matt 27:35 – And they crucified him,

Contrary to the usual custom of tying the hands and feet of the victim to the cross, that hands and feet of Jesus were nailed to the cross.  Dr. Pierre Barbet studied crucifixion and did a lot of experimental work with amputated arms and bodies of deceased. As a result of his will not support the weight of a man when he is suspended. There is adequate anatomical explanation for this since there are no strong horizontal structures in the hands. This of course, would be unsatisfactory for crucifixion. Yet, He was consistently able to drive large nails between the carpal bones of the wrist with radiographic proof of no resulting fractures. There is a natural passageway there between the bones. This location is considered to be a part of the hand and for it to be used brought no contradiction of scripture. This placements of nails will adequately suspend a man’s weight. So, it was probably this spot that was used by the Roman executioner.

The wound of perforation was received by our Lord.  For you and for me.

The Wound of Incision – Spear

The fifth of the types of flesh wounds suffered by the Lord is medically known as he wound of incision.  The prophet Zechariah foretold of this……

Zech 12:10 – and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him,

This is a wound of incision, a clean wound made by a keen edged instrument.  Its fulfillment is found in the book of John……

John 19:33 -But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

The Greek originally states that “there gushed out blood and water”

Here we seem to have a contradiction of biological truth, because blood will not gush from the arteries of one who has passed unto death.  It requires the pulsation, and pumping of the heart to produce the pressure required to suffice the word “Gush”.  Yet the scripture factually states “he was dead”…This means the heart was not pumping blood….but the original translation says in came forth rapidly in a gushing.

The heart is encased in an elastic sac called the pericardium, a sac capable of great elasticity.  If the heart walls would be ruptured, blood would rush into this sac, filling it and causing it to be swollen full of blood from the heart.  Then, should the sac be ruptured from an wound of incision from below, the force of gravitation would then cause the blood to gush forth.

The 69^th Psalm gives a detailed account of the events of the Passion of our Lord, and in the twentieth verse states clearly: “Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness”

Jesus suffered EVERY KIND OF WOUND for your transgressions….and he literally died with a broken heart!

However, near the end of His time of the cross, when He knew that the way to God had been opened by the payment of the redemption price, He opened His mouth and spoke three simple words that still echo throughout the halls of eternity. He said: “It is finished!” As I have mentioned before, this was not the cry of a defeated Man! He did not say “I am finished!” This was not the cry of One Who had given up short of His goal of redeeming the human race. He did not say, “You are finished!” This was the cry of One Who had achieved true victory! He said, “It is finished!” When He did, it was the cry of a Champion! Just as a mighty lion will roar after he has made a kill, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roared His great cry of victory so that you and I might know that there is hope! (Note: I have shared with you what this word means in the original and how it was used. But, if you will allow me, I want to share it again, because it is so precious and rich in its meaning to all believers.

1.     A Servant’s Word – Used when a task had been completed.

2.     A Priest’s Word – Used when a sacrificial animal was found to be worthy.

3.     A Farmer’s Word – Used when a perfect specimen had been born into the flock.

4.     An Artist’s Word – Used when the final touches had been applied to a masterpiece.

5.     A Merchant’s Word – Used when a deal had been struck and all the haggling had ended. Its usage meant that both parties were satisfied.

You see, the cross for Jesus wasn’t a time of defeat and doom. It was a time of joy and anticipation, He rejoiced when the battle was won. But it is only as we accept for ourselves the shedding of his blood that we are cleansed from our sin.  It is only as His life-giving blood is applied that we have the newness in Christ Jesus.

Who would dare today turn away One, who for you and me, suffered EVERY KIND OF WOUND!