I’ve been thinking a lot about our beloved song, “I’m the One,” and our Lord and Savior's ultimate sacrifice, His scourging and crucifixion. Every time I hear and sing this moving song, I cannot help but be torn up over what our Lord and Savior endured at the hands of wicked and lawless men to redeem and reconcile us to our Father in heaven. Words cannot express my gratitude, but more than words, I must be devoted to a life lived in righteousness in exchange for what my Savior did on Calvary for me. We were dead in our sins and trespasses without hope.
The Romans executed their worst criminals by the cruelest form of capital punishment. In Matthew 27:26, we read that the people asked that Pilate release Barabbas, a murderous robber, instead of Jesus. Jesus, they scourged and delivered over to be crucified. Scourging was the worse and most cruel form of beating, where the one being scourged was tied up and beaten mercilessly with flagellum or rods. Flagellum was a whip with parts of bone or metal woven into the ends of leather. The centurion would stop the scourging only when the back was bloody and so severely torn that death was near.
After our Lord Jesus was stripped of His garments, a scarlet robe was put on His back, a crown of thorns upon His head, and a reed in His right hand.
"And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him" (Mark 15:19-20).
"And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, 'You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.' 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 'He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'" (Matt. 27:39-43)
"And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him. 21 And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross." (Mk. 15:16-21)
Jesus’ wrists were then nailed to this horizontal beam. His feet were nailed to the vertical beam, which was then put into the ground. The cruelest part of the horrible ordeal of crucifying was the death by suffocation, exhaustion, and the endless and devastating pain caused by the nails tearing and putting pressure on the nerves in both the wrists and feet. This must have been a very traumatic experience of pain for Jesus from beginning to end! Why? Because every time He had to breathe, He would have to lift His body by pushing his feet against the nails that impaled His feet. He experienced excruciating pain in His feet and legs just to take in a short breath of air.
Jesus’ example of dying that cruel death on the cross is the ultimate sacrifice of love for us! Yet all of this was necessary for our redemption. Nothing could deter Jesus from His goal of shedding His precious blood to redeem us.
"Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
“But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” (Hebrews 10:12-14)
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:22-23).
"For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins" (2 Pet. 1:9).
"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth... Yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors." (Isaiah 53)
I hope the words of this hymn move you deeply the way it does me!