The Testimony of Witnesses

“I am poured out like water, and all My bones are spread apart; My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of My bowels.” (Psalms 22:14)

Psalms 22 was written by David who prophetically wrote with accuracy the details of the sufferings of Jesus. Only extreme fear, anxiety and anguish can produce what is described by David in our verse of study. It is more than mere man can withstand. And although we may feel close to that in an extreme situation, it will never be to the extent of the physical, mental and emotional torment Jesus experienced. He knew what was coming. And in our torment, mercifully, we don’t know what is coming. As a believer in Jesus, we have hope in every situation, even those that seem hopeless because we have a Savior Who took our place in every torment. “And My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour? But for this cause I came to this hour.” (John 12:27) We can find refuge in Him and be comforted and saved.

When someone is pulling a prank on us and springs suddenly from the dark to spook us, in an instant we may feel our knees buckle and maybe feel our body like water as our body goes limp. But it’s only for a couple of seconds. I cannot imagine the waves of that feeling washing over Jesus for the length it took Him to go from the Praetorium to Calvary a distance of 600 meters or 2,000 feet. It's a little over a third of a mile and not that far, but tortuous when carrying a heavy cross which was 2 big beams in the form of a cross and taking the waves of torment. It takes four men to carry a large beam to place in a ceiling space. The cross was not light.

The pain and anguish were so severe it caused His bones to separate. There is a medical condition caused by renal failure that causes the bones to separate. Jesus had extreme blood loss and was not offered any water to drink which may have caused this. “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws;” (Psalms 22:15) David writes, “I can count all My bones; they look and stare at Me.” (Psalms 22:17) It is a fact that the scourging Jesus received exposed His bones. He was cut to the bone.

The extreme emotional distress and weakness are described as the heart being as wax, weak and distressed melted in His bowels. Jesus tolerated all that physical, mental and emotional suffering for us. There is a question about when exactly we would feel such torment and the suffering that Jesus took for us. We live in a civil society. Such cruelty and torture are rare if non-existent even in heinous crimes. But it’s a real suffering that Jesus took for us. And it’s a real suffering that man will suffer if he doesn’t accept the gift Jesus suffered and died for.

Think about the souls of those who don’t believe and receive Jesus. They know at the time of death their doom. They will be aware of and feel what Jesus felt. This will be their eternity. “...where their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” (Mark 9:48)

 Their torment will be eternal. “So, it shall be at the end of the world. The angels shall come out and separate the wicked from among the just and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:49-50) It’s not God punishing them. It’s their destiny as unrepentant sinners and unbelievers. They cannot come to the light and life of God. When they heard of the Lord, they rejected Him. They rejected His free gift of His Love, mercy and life.

Luke records what Jesus said about Hades or hell and at that time because Jesus hadn’t redeemed man, a place set apart from hell, but not heaven where the believers and true followers of the Law went until the redemption. The rich man, who had been cruel and selfish found himself in hell. Lazarus the beggar was in the bosom of Abraham, comforted and loved. Jesus said, “And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and you are tormented. And besides all this, there is a great chasm fixed between you and us; so that they desiring to pass from here to you cannot, nor can they pass over to us from there.” (Luke 16:23-26) Those righteous ones were able to go to heaven when Jesus resurrected. They are in heaven. “Therefore, since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1). They are witnesses of life everlasting in the Lord.

Lastly, we see that the torment and suffering of Jesus which to many of us seem too extreme to ever suffer and don’t quite understand how it relates to us is the torment and suffering due us because of our sin. Thankfully, because Jesus took that for us, we will not suffer such torture. We will be eternally in God’s light and life everlasting.