Recently we were contacted by a couple on the west coast that are like us, striving deep in the things of God via His Holy Word. We got the chance to talk about our faith and biblical matters and it was such a blessing to us. We are thankful that our website gets out there and we can reach and encourage others through it. To God be the glory!!
As we talked, the man mentioned a topic 'Was Christ Punished on the Cross' and I wanted to go into more depth with an article. He had read our gospel message at dontperish.com and asked me about that part so I felt it was worthy to write more on it.
Was Jesus Christ Punished on the Cross?
Before we go into what God's Word says on this let me show you what we say on our gospel message at dontperish.com
Because of man’s sinfulness, Christ was punished and put to death on the cross, buried, then rose again to defeat death and gain eternal life for those who will seek after Him.
Later we state this:
God sent Jesus to die in man's place; to take the punishment you deserve so that you can be saved from your sins.
After reading this the man who contacted us said he disagreed that Christ was ever punished. This may just be a matter of words and meanings that need to be explained better. Let's get at the truth from the Word so we can all be clear on it and if we are wrong we need to correct it!
What we are simply trying to relay here is that Christ took the place for man and He suffered (physically was punished) as He took upon himself ( all sin and suffering ) what was due to you and I. Not that Jesus deserved to be punished, no, He was perfect! But God in His mercy, love and grace sent Jesus (Himself) to the cross for mankind to be reconciled. He was the perfect offering/atonement for us, see Romans 5.
Again while we would never say God needed to punish Jesus on the cross for any wrong doing we do stand on what scripture says. He was made sin for us and He indeed suffered a punishing death.
Isaiah 53:5
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.
Did you catch that; by His stripes we are healed.
Christ suffered so we could be made whole. Read about the execution He went through at the hands of the Romans. It was indeed a punishing event!
If you wonder how the Father felt about this; it even says it pleased God to bruise Him.
Isaiah 53:10 says:
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
Clearly Jesus, the man, was physically chastised (or punished) at the cross for you and I. He went in place of us to be the perfect sacrifice once for all. Many contest that verse and you can argue over semantics of punishment but it was the Father who sent Him to go in our place.
Again to be very clear, not that Christ was due any punishment, but He bore our sin there and God needed that perfect sacrifice as nothing else would do. His perfect blood needed to be shed for the remission of our sins, see Hebrews 9 and 10.
But was Christ punished at the cross by God?
Here is what Isaiah 53:5 says:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
The key word here is chastisement.
( some translations do indeed say ... punished )
In the Hebrew the word is "muwcar" and it means rebuke, correction, instruction or discipline.
The weight of the worlds sin was cast upon Him and be had to bear it all for us. It was a chastisement unto Him.
Here are other places in the Old Testament that use the same word is used:
Deuteronomy 11:2
And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm
Jeremiah 30:14
All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
It means what is says: to discipline or chastise (or could it mean punish also?)
If you doubt that Jesus suffered or was physically punished at the cross, consider He asked the Father to not put Him through if it that was possible.
Matthew 26:39
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
He knew the awful and terrible burden He was about to endure!
As we talked, the man mentioned a topic 'Was Christ Punished on the Cross' and I wanted to go into more depth with an article. He had read our gospel message at dontperish.com and asked me about that part so I felt it was worthy to write more on it.
Was Jesus Christ Punished on the Cross?
Before we go into what God's Word says on this let me show you what we say on our gospel message at dontperish.com
Because of man’s sinfulness, Christ was punished and put to death on the cross, buried, then rose again to defeat death and gain eternal life for those who will seek after Him.
Later we state this:
God sent Jesus to die in man's place; to take the punishment you deserve so that you can be saved from your sins.
After reading this the man who contacted us said he disagreed that Christ was ever punished. This may just be a matter of words and meanings that need to be explained better. Let's get at the truth from the Word so we can all be clear on it and if we are wrong we need to correct it!
What we are simply trying to relay here is that Christ took the place for man and He suffered (physically was punished) as He took upon himself ( all sin and suffering ) what was due to you and I. Not that Jesus deserved to be punished, no, He was perfect! But God in His mercy, love and grace sent Jesus (Himself) to the cross for mankind to be reconciled. He was the perfect offering/atonement for us, see Romans 5.
Again while we would never say God needed to punish Jesus on the cross for any wrong doing we do stand on what scripture says. He was made sin for us and He indeed suffered a punishing death.
Isaiah 53:5
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.
Did you catch that; by His stripes we are healed.
Christ suffered so we could be made whole. Read about the execution He went through at the hands of the Romans. It was indeed a punishing event!
If you wonder how the Father felt about this; it even says it pleased God to bruise Him.
Isaiah 53:10 says:
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:
Clearly Jesus, the man, was physically chastised (or punished) at the cross for you and I. He went in place of us to be the perfect sacrifice once for all. Many contest that verse and you can argue over semantics of punishment but it was the Father who sent Him to go in our place.
Again to be very clear, not that Christ was due any punishment, but He bore our sin there and God needed that perfect sacrifice as nothing else would do. His perfect blood needed to be shed for the remission of our sins, see Hebrews 9 and 10.
But was Christ punished at the cross by God?
Here is what Isaiah 53:5 says:
the chastisement of our peace was upon him;
The key word here is chastisement.
( some translations do indeed say ... punished )
In the Hebrew the word is "muwcar" and it means rebuke, correction, instruction or discipline.
The weight of the worlds sin was cast upon Him and be had to bear it all for us. It was a chastisement unto Him.
Here are other places in the Old Testament that use the same word is used:
Deuteronomy 11:2
And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm
Jeremiah 30:14
All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
It means what is says: to discipline or chastise (or could it mean punish also?)
If you doubt that Jesus suffered or was physically punished at the cross, consider He asked the Father to not put Him through if it that was possible.
Matthew 26:39
And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
He knew the awful and terrible burden He was about to endure!
Note: it was not God sending a innocent person to die but God was sending HIMSELF! Men on the wrong side of this argument miss that point completely and it matters much.
Holy scripture makes it very clear. Christ was indeed chastised ( or punished perhaps? ) for us ( in our place ) at the cross even though He was without sin. He became sin for us, see 2 Corinthians 5:21
We know that Christ came and He suffered much. In His human form, all that He went through, that was indeed a form of physical punishment to endure for the world. Or as the Word says 'He was chastised'.
The New Testament speaks about these terms also:
Hebrews 12:8
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
1 Peter 2:21
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
After reviewing what the Holy Word says about this issue we believe just what it says in the bible. While God did not punish Him for wrong doing; the Father allowed Him to suffer and be bruised. Christ took our punishment and our chastisement was upon Himself.
When we refer to His punishment it was the physical events He went through ( His stripes and death ) that made the way for man to gain eternal life via His blood.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Hebrews 9:22
I am placing all of Isaiah 53 and Romans 5 here for you to read. Once you read them in full, you will see what Christ went through for us at the cross.
Isa 53
Go here to listen to or read the biblical gospel:
http://www.dontperish.com/the-gospel.html
Glory to God
www.dontperish.com
Holy scripture makes it very clear. Christ was indeed chastised ( or punished perhaps? ) for us ( in our place ) at the cross even though He was without sin. He became sin for us, see 2 Corinthians 5:21
We know that Christ came and He suffered much. In His human form, all that He went through, that was indeed a form of physical punishment to endure for the world. Or as the Word says 'He was chastised'.
The New Testament speaks about these terms also:
Hebrews 12:8
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
1 Peter 2:21
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
After reviewing what the Holy Word says about this issue we believe just what it says in the bible. While God did not punish Him for wrong doing; the Father allowed Him to suffer and be bruised. Christ took our punishment and our chastisement was upon Himself.
When we refer to His punishment it was the physical events He went through ( His stripes and death ) that made the way for man to gain eternal life via His blood.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Hebrews 9:22
I am placing all of Isaiah 53 and Romans 5 here for you to read. Once you read them in full, you will see what Christ went through for us at the cross.
Isa 53
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lordrevealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
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.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Romans 5
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Go here to listen to or read the biblical gospel:
http://www.dontperish.com/the-gospel.html
Glory to God
www.dontperish.com