When looking at the Sacrifice of Christ from an analytical point of view, we come to the conclusion as to how complete it was, covering every base as it were. Blood, the lifeline of any human being, was shed for our sins to be forgiven. Life is in the blood, it is the human common denominator, and loss of it leads to death.
Christ could have chosen a more pleasant way to die, but He did not for a reason. The one thing which cannot be said to Him is: “I suffered more than You.”
We have all gone through painful experiences. For some women it is very painful to have a child, and for all of us passing a kidney stone is very painful also. Crushing-type injuries are particularly painful.
But none of us has been beaten, punched in the face, slapped, scourged (from which, in many cases, the tortured person died with the subsequent loss of blood), hung on a stake for six hours and then being speared in the side to finish us off. Why go through so much physical suffering? A spear through the heart, without the previous excruciating pain, would have been quick and just as deadly in shedding blood and being killed.
Isaiah answers that question. In Isaiah 53:5, we read: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
This is restated by Peter in 1 Peter 2:24: “…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”
So there was a reason for all the physical wounding—it was for our physical healing. We can be anointed by God’s ministers and ask God to apply the beating and suffering of Christ to our physical healing.
There are several types of wounds, and Christ suffered them all:
–Contusion: The medical term for bruising. He was hit on the head with rods and punched.
–Abrasion: An open wound caused by rubbing against something which breaks the skin. The crown jamming down on His brow
–Laceration: The tearing of soft body tissue from the scourging.
–Avulsion: Chunks of tissue were removed totally. Psalm 22:17, prophesying Christ’s torture, states: “I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me.” Avulsion causes severe bleeding, referring to the scourging and the crucifixion.
–Puncture: A punctured wound is a deep wound that occurs due to something sharp and pointed, such as a nail. This applied when Christ’s hands and feet were pierced and when He was nailed to the stake.
–Incision: Cuts through the skin and muscles. This describes the moment when He was speared in the side deep enough to cut the artery running down the spine.
So we can see that the wounding of Christ was complete and thus can be applied to our physical healing.
Christ’s Sacrifice was a complete one. He shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins and He permitted evil men to wound Him for our physical healing. We must therefore appreciate all of His suffering and His death for us, so that, ultimately, all of mankind could be reconciled to God and be given an opportunity to be in the God Family.
