In the Christian world the suffering and death of Jesus Christ are widely spoken about. Plays have been performed by children. Movies have been made. People are haunted by the very thoughts of a crown of thorns being forced onto His head, nails being driven into His hands and feet and a spear being thrust into His side. All this is over and above the arrest, false accusation, mocking, spitting on His face and so on.

However, just looking at these aspects actually underplays the full extent of Christ's suffering. Some of the details that are usually left out can help us appreciate the full value of the price that Christ paid for our sins.

To start with, let us notice that Christ was the God of the Old Testament. The Jews wanted to stone Him when He told them this: "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58).

Let us also notice that He is the one who inspired the prophesies about His sufferings. Therefore He knew how much He was going to suffer (1 Peter 1:11; Matthew 16:21). This culminated in the mental torture He went through in the Garden of Gethsemane . How many of us could live with the knowledge of the way we were going to die, especially a cruel death like Christ's—and knowing that it was for somebody else?

Details of His arrest and trial are well known. Let us pick up the story from His scourging.

Christ was not the first nor was He the only person to be scourged. For example, Paul was also scourged (2 Corinthians 11:24). But Christ's was evidently more excessive. This may have been augmented by other blows from Roman soldiers, which resulted in Him being badly mutilated. Consider the following scripture: "Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14). Christ was beaten beyond recognition.

Other scriptures that shed more light on His mental and physical suffering say: "I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint" (Psalm 22:14). "For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet" (verse 16). "I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me" (verse 17). The psalmist describes our Savior's state—with flesh ripped open during scourging and beating by the Roman soldiers, so that some of His bones were exposed and others went out of joint.

That mutilated wreck of a human body was forced to carry the cross on which He was going to be crucified. But because there was little strength left in Him, He kept falling under its weight. So they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross for Him (Matthew 27:32). It was no use whipping Him further to force Him to carry the cross.

Crucifixion was a horrible method of carrying out capital punishment. "And the whole crowd who came together to that sight, seeing what had been done, beat their breasts and returned" (Luke 23:48). They could not stand the sight.

This is what it took to pay the penalty for our violating God's law (Romans 5:8; 1 John 3:4). The price paid by Jesus Christ by His excruciating death was for all sins, ranging from ceasing to pray for others (1 Samuel 12:23) to completely wicked thoughts, imaginations and actions (Genesis 6:5).

Now let us take a further solemn notice of what this sacrifice means to us. For our sins to be forgiven, blood had to be shed (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22). We are also told that the blood of bulls and goats did not take away sins (Hebrews 10:4). So it required the blood of Christ to pay for our sins.

We are also told that "the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). This means that He had to be chastised on our behalf for us to have peace. His body was torn open with the scourge so that we may be healed.

We are warned that, if after such a great price was paid for us, we should willfully go on sinning, there is no more sacrifice for us (Hebrews 10:26). Christ is not going to suffer again. Treating the sacrifice of Jesus Christ without the solemnity it deserves is tantamount to treading the Son of God underfoot and counting the blood of the covenant as an unholy thing (Hebrews 10:29).

Christ—the Creator of the entire universe and the Maker who gave us life—was willing to suffer a horrible death at the hands of His human creatures for us. Not understanding the true value of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is equal to placing less value on the price He paid for each one of us. We must not fall away—rejecting God's way, which is tantamount to crucifying the Son of God afresh and putting Him to open shame (Hebrews 6:6).

However, let us rejoice that such a price was paid for us. Otherwise we are the ones that should have gone through this agony for our sins. Accepting His sacrifice in its true value and not going back to the sins He paid for is like washing our clothes in His blood and making them white (Revelation 7:14). The result is that we will rise from death in the first resurrection and reign with Christ a thousand years (Revelation 20:6). UN