0483. The Physical Agonies of the Cross

The Physical Agonies of the Cross

"I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint:

"My heart is like wax;

"It is melted in the midst of My bowels.

"My strength is dried up like a potsherd;

"And My tongue cleaveth to My jaws;

"Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.

"For dogs have compassed Me:

"The assembly of the wicked have inclosed Me:

"They pierced My hands and My feet" (Psa_22:14-16).

It is impossible for us to conceive the anguish with which our Lord suffered. When we think of His position as He hung upon the Cross–of the nail-pierced hands and feet, of the unnatural position, the wounds, the beaten back, the bruised brow, the piercing–we are moved with a wondering compassion.

Think of the thirst He must have felt. He said, "My tongue cleaveth to My jaws." Think of the exhausted body. He said, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd."

Think of the strain upon His bones. He said, "All My bones are out of joint," yet, neither the nail-pierced hands and feet, nor the thirst, nor the bones out of joint, nor any other physical anguish, could describe the deepest agony of the Cross.

Beyond any of these, and more than any of these, was the anguish of the soul. He said, "My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels." Jesus Christ did not die upon the Cross from crucifixion. He was dead before the thieves had died. When the sun went down, they "brake the legs" of the thieves, to end their misery. But, not a bone of Christ’s was broken. He was already dead. He had died before the agonies of the Cross had killed Him–He died of a broken heart. "His heart was melted like wax."

In the Gospels, we find abundant proof of this, when we read of how a soldier thrust a sword within His side. From the open wound, there poured forth blood and water, a proof of the rupture of His heart.

All of this means that the greatest anguish of the Cross was caused by the sins of us all. Indeed, we nailed Him there. Our sins were upon Him, as He suffered. Our sins slew Him.

Added to all this anguish of the body, and the anguish of His soul, was the supreme sorrow, expressed in the 1st verse of the Psalm: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR