(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

The part of the chapter that I want to focus on is verse 10 where the Bible reads, Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And I want to take my sermon title from this phrase in verse 11 where the Bible says the sufferings of Christ. The title of my sermon is The Sufferings of Christ. And the Bible makes it very clear that it testified beforehand all the sufferings of Christ and that really when you understand how the Bible is written all of the Old Testament is picturing Christ and His coming and the things that are going to be associated with that coming. And one of the most important aspects is the sufferings that Christ was going to go through when He came to the earth, when His blood was shed, and really the gospel. And when we go out and preach the gospel today or when we're in the New Testament we're looking back at that same event because really that's the main event of the Bible. Whether you're in the Old Testament you're looking to the cross or you're in the New Testament you're looking back to the cross. But it's really the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that is the epicenter of everything in the Bible. Everything in the Bible is about that and one thing you have to understand is that Christ went through many different sufferings for us. The Bible makes it clear there was multiple sufferings of Christ. Look at chapter 4. I don't know if I have to turn the page or not but right there in chapter 4 look at verse 13. But rejoice in as much as you're partakers of Christ's sufferings that when His glory shall be revealed you may be glad also with exceeding joy. So again it's reiterating the fact that when we suffer we're a partaker of Christ's sufferings because again why He had multiple sufferings that He went through. Look at chapter 5 verse 1 the elders which are among you I exhort them also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. So notice the Apostle Peter is telling us that he was a literal witness of the sufferings of Christ and Christ went through all kinds of horrible suffering while on this earth. Now let's look at another verse in 1 Peter. Look at 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18. The Bible reads For Christ also hath once suffered for sins the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God being put to death in the flesh but quickened by the Spirit. Now in 1 Peter chapter number 3 it's emphasizing this latter portion that we should suffer for well-doing and our example of suffering for well-doing is Jesus Christ who did nothing wrong, who never lied, never stole never had a bad look, never had a bad thought. He was without sin as the Bible describes him yet he suffered horribly on this earth because he took our wrongdoing. He took our evil and our iniquity upon him but even just through his life just being a righteous person he constantly suffered for righteousness sake they lied about him, they railed on him, they falsely accused him, they wanted to stone him multiple times and he also witnessed you know sufferings in just the human nature of hungering and thirsting and his friend Lazarus died and so we have the famous verse in the Bible where it says Jesus wept and so Jesus truly put on humanity and went through the full human experience and at the full culmination he had many sufferings. Now what you have to understand about this verse though it's not saying that there was only one time and one specific way that Jesus Christ suffered what it's saying is that he only one time died okay he once suffered for sin being put to death in the flesh but he has multiple sufferings. We already read 1 Peter chapter 1 4 and 5 there was multiple sufferings that Christ went through 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18 what it's saying is that he died once okay that's what it means by he once suffered for sins being put to death okay now why is it saying that? Well go to Hebrews chapter number 9 Now let's compare spiritual to spiritual. Why is it emphasizing the once aspect? The once aspect is not saying there's only one form of suffering or one moment of suffering for Christ but rather it's illustrating the one event of the fact that he came here as a one-time sacrifice he had to die only one time which is in direct contrast to all the other sacrifices of the Old Testament the sacrifices of the Old Testament were a continual sacrifice a yearly sacrifice something that happened over and over and over and over again but Jesus Christ's sacrifice was a once for all sacrifice. Look at Hebrews chapter number 9 verse 12 neither by the blood of goats and calves but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. So Jesus Christ after dying on the cross after spending three days and three nights in hell and then rising again from the dead he then ascended up into heaven with the blood that was shed and he entered in one time into the holy place and he offered his blood one time on the altar and that's the all we needed for the redemption is that one time sacrifice but he only had to enter one time in there. It's not like he did all that process and then you sin again later this afternoon he's like oh now I gotta do that again now I need to come down to the earth and then you sin again and he's like oh now I need to come down to the earth again and die and and go back up to heaven and put my blood on the altar again but in the Old Testament those sacrifices were hey I sinned, offer another lamb. I sinned again, offer another lamb. I sinned again, offer another lamb. So it's just a continual process and so the Bible is illustrating for us a clear picture here that it was a one-time sacrifice okay and it's different than the Old Testament sacrifices okay now skip down a few verses. Look at verse 24 for Christ has not entered in the holy places made with hands which are the figures of the true but in the heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us neither yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest enter in the holy place every year with blood of others for then must he have suffered since the foundation of the world but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself so it's saying he appeared what? Once he was a one-time sacrifice. It was a one-time event of him coming at the end of the world to sacrifice himself it's not something he had to do over and over and over and over again so that's why first Peter chapter 3 18 is saying hey he hath once suffered for sins being put to death in the flesh okay but that doesn't mean that his life and all the circumstances around that wasn't a culmination of multiple sufferings it's very clear there was multiple sufferings that Christ went through it's just he had to do it one time. It says in verse number 27 as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin on the salvation. So notice he had to do this one time but the Bible is making it clear when you study it from Genesis Revelation there was all kinds of different sufferings that Christ went through I mean just go to Hebrews 4, just flip back and look how the Bible describes his human experience and what he did for us. Look at verse 15. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The Bible is saying every kind of emotion or suffering or all these things that we go through Christ felt it all he experienced it all. There wasn't like some kind of an emotional experience that you could go through of pain or suffering that Christ can't relate to. No he can relate to all of it and he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities okay. Now let's get some real specifics. Go to Acts chapter 10 for a moment, go to Acts chapter 10. Now I cannot adequately preach this morning on every single thing that Christ did. I mean we literally have to read the entire Bible. We would literally have to spend hours and hours and days just studying all the different stories and all the different aspects. I mean there's just so much, it's a lifetime. Even in a whole lifetime I couldn't pill everything out of the Bible and explain to you all the different sufferings. So really I kinda picked out some that are really iconic and really specific. But notice what the Bible says in Acts 10 verse 43 to him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive a mission of sin. All the prophets were pointing to Christ. All of them gave witness to him and we have to understand is when you look at the prophets in the Old Testament and you see the difficulty and you see the struggle and you see the persecution and you see their pain and you see their woe and you see their sorrow yeah they really did experience that. Yeah that was a historical event and that person really had those emotions. But what you have to understand is that was a picture of what Christ was going to be like and he was going to go through and the thoughts and the feelings that Christ was going to have. God put prophets through horrible experiences to help us understand the things that Christ was going to go through and suffer. All of their sufferings is a culmination of everything that Christ was going to go through. And when we look at it and say oh that's horrible for him to do. Well guess what? Christ did that. Every single suffering of all the prophets is all culminated in what Christ did for us and they all picture Christ and they're all witness of Christ and we get to see the feeling and the emotion and all the pain and the suffering through these prophets of Jesus. So it'd be a shame to just throw out your Old Testament and be like oh we're New Testament. It's like the Old Testament helps us have a deeper meaning to what Christ truly went through. Go to Ezekiel chapter number three. Go to Ezekiel chapter number three for a moment. What was something that Jesus Christ went through that another prophet went through to kind of give us an idea of what that was like? Well Ezekiel and he went through all all kinds of crazy stuff. But one thing that I think you know pretty easily skipped over because it's just kind of barely mentioned and you don't really think about it because a lot of horrible things are mentioned right after is the fact that he was dumb. Now dumb, I'm not saying stupid, I'm saying he was unable to speak. Okay? Meaning that he was not able to make any utterance. He wasn't able to speak of his own volition. Look what it says in Ezekiel chapter three verse 24. When I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, He that heareth let him hear, and he that forbereth let him forbear, for they are a rebellious house. Now what's interesting about this is what God's telling Ezekiel is he's saying I'm gonna make it where you cannot talk. You physically are unable to speak. But there's an exception. You can speak whenever I give you a direct word and you can only say my words. So here's the thing. He's not able to say something to someone about them doing anything wrong of his own volition. If someone cuts him off in traffic, he can't tell him what he thinks. He can only speak the Bible. You know, if someone does him wrong or does evil or he witnesses something that he wants to say or wants to let out, he can't say it. He can only speak what God is going to tell him. And here's the thing. That's a picture of Jesus Christ. Why? Because Jesus Christ did not come to this earth just telling us whatever he wanted. He told us everything that God told him to speak. He was a messenger of God. He was one who was obedient to what God gave him to speak. And that's why you see a lot of verses that will talk about the fact that he's not a witness of himself. He's just saying whatever God the Father told him to say. And he has to hold his tongue from being able to say what he wants. He's just saying whatever God gave him to say. And he's not going to be a prover unto them, meaning he's not going to speak up for himself. That's got to be frustrating. I think pretty much everyone in this room can talk. Wouldn't it be frustrating if you just could never talk again? The only thing you can do is every once in a while God will let you just say the Bible out loud. That's it. I mean, that would be a frustrating thing. That would be a suffering to go through to not be able to communicate. Look at chapter 4, verse 4 now. Now this is right on top of that. Verse 4, it says, Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. So shall thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel, and when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have appointed thee each day for a year. So he makes Ezekiel do this performance in a sense, this kind of illustration of laying on his side as a picture of him bearing the iniquity of the children of Israel. And he has to do it for three hundred and ninety days on the left side. And then he gets to switch to the right side and do it for another forty. And we're talking like four hundred and thirty days. You know, some women, when they have a tough pregnancy, they go on bed rest. And they have to be on bed rest for, you know, sometimes a month, two months, something like that. Can you imagine being on bed rest for over a year? Over a year, just laying on your side. That's got to hurt. That's got to be frustrating. And you say, well, why is he giving this picture? Because he's trying to give us a physical example of what it's like when Christ had to literally bear the sins and the iniquities of the entire world upon himself. He's showing what kind of a burden it was. I mean, if someone came up to you and said, all you can do is lay in bed for a year, and he didn't have YouTube. He didn't have Facebook to go and scroll around and look at. I mean, imagine me just putting you in your room and you get to stare at the wall for a year plus. That's a big burden. That's frustrating. And there's other things going on in this story, too. I'm just kind of dialing it in to a few things. He can't talk either. Just sit there and just watch paint dry for a year. That's got to be fun. Go to Isaiah chapter 53. Go to Isaiah 53. But just as Ezekiel was dumb, and just like Ezekiel had to bear the iniquity of others, you know, it's not like Ezekiel did anything wrong here. God's saying, hey, I'm going to punish you for what they did. And notice, for 430 years. It's not Ezekiel's fault, all those generations and all those people what they did for those 430 years. He's having to bear this horrible burden for what they did. He's innocent. But isn't that a picture of Christ? Isn't Christ having to bear our sins and iniquities, even though he did nothing wrong? Isaiah 53, verse 4. Surely you have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 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. Isn't that sound like Ezekiel? And then Isaiah is preaching about it. And who's that really about? It's about Jesus Christ. Go to Matthew 17. Go to Matthew 17. In John chapter 11, I'll read for you, it says, And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that as an expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad. So the Bible prophesies the fact that Jesus Christ was going to literally die for everyone, meaning what? He's taking the iniquity of what? Everyone upon Himself. So you read that in John, but guess what? You read that in Isaiah. But guess what? You read that in Ezekiel, through the picture of Ezekiel bearing the iniquity of the children of Israel and the children of Judah, is a picture of Christ is going to literally bear the sins of Israel and the sins of Judah, and not just them, the sins of the world. And while going through this process, he can't even open his mouth and speak up. Matthew 17, look at verse 12, And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered, Nothing. Then said Pilate to them, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered them, To never a word, insomuch that the governor marveled greatly. Go to Luke 23. Go to Luke 23. Luke chapter 23. Notice, they're falsely confused. When someone just tells a horrible lie about you, what's your instinct? Isn't your instinct to kind of want to be like, That's not true? To kind of speak up for yourself, or defend yourself, or to try and discredit the lie, or discredit the gossip, or try to prove why what they said was wrong. But Christ is literally just sitting there taking false accusation after false accusation. And this is like the worst possible false accusation. I mean, he is the son of God, and they're calling him a blasphemer, a devil, wicked, sinful. I mean, this has got to be the worst false accusations. I mean, imagine someone, you know, let's say we brought someone up, and all of us just start calling him, You're a pedophile, and you're an adulterer, and you're a murderer, and the person's just completely innocent, and they're just sitting there taking that. Wouldn't that be awful? Wouldn't that be frustrating to have just the worst accusations of being constantly hurled at you, and tossed at you? What if someone's like, You're an atheist, and you're a God-hater, and you're a liberal, and you're a leftist, and he's like, You're a Biden voter. You're just like, No, I didn't fight for him! I didn't vote! I haven't died yet, okay? Let that one sink in, all right? Luke 23, look at verse 8. It says, And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him, and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned him in many words, but he answered him nothing. Notice Jesus Christ is literally just not saying anything. Go to Acts chapter number 8. Go to Acts chapter number 8. Show you another verse here about this. But this is incredible. This is incredible how when we go and we look at these prophets, because when we read the prophet, we think like, Man, that's terrible for him. But the revelation we should have is this. But Jesus also went through that, too. It's not just terrible for Ezekiel. It was also terrible for Jesus. And it wasn't just terrible for Isaiah, the things that he went through. It was terrible for Jesus. Look at Acts chapter 8, verse 32. In the place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb, dumb before his shearer, so he opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away, and whoso declare his generation, for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee of whom speak of the prophet as of himself or of some other man. And Philip opened his mouth and began to the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. So notice the Isaiah passage we read is clearly articulated in the New Testament as being about who? Jesus Christ. And it says that he was, in verse number 33, in his humiliation. Who's humiliation? Jesus Christ's humiliation. It was humiliating to go through all of that. It was frustrating to go through that. And when I think about humiliation, to me this has got to be one of the most embarrassing things that have to go through. But Isaiah, the Bible describes, had to walk for three years naked. And it was to picture a punishment that was going to happen to Egypt and others. You know what? That's also a picture of Christ. Why? Because when he gets on the cross, don't they take off all of his garments? They take his raiment and they take his coat and he has to just be there on the cross exposed for the whole world. And he's just in complete humiliation and they're mocking him and ridiculing him and lying about him, yet he doesn't open his mouth. Except for the things that God told him to say, like, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. But he wasn't a reprover unto them. He just sat there and took it. How about Samson? Whenever he's finally captured by the Philistines, he loses his strength. His strength is taken from him and he's taken and they gouge out his eyes and they bring him out and they make a sport of him in front of all the Philistines. Oh, Samson! He was really strong, wasn't he? Hey, Samson, why don't you come take me on now, buddy? Just mocking and ridiculing. You know what? That's a picture of what it was like when Christ was going to be hanging on the cross and they're saying, hey, if that will be the Son of God, come down save thyself. The mocking and the ridicule. And when you see it in Samson, you say, that's what it was like for Christ. When you see it in Isaiah, the shame and the humiliation of walking around naked, it's like what it's like for Christ. This is the guy that made the heavens and the earth. He's on the cross, just powerless in a sense, just weak, just exposed for the world, just complete humiliation, complete mocking, complete ridicule. You say, how do you get this picture? You've got to get all the pictures of the Bible, not just the New Testament. Hey, the New Testament's great, praise the Lord. The Old Testament also gives us these pictures and helps us understand the feelings and the emotions. Christ was feeling humiliated. Go to Psalms 38, go to Psalms 38. His mouth was dumb. He was being falsely accused. He had to bear the iniquity of other people. He's there experiencing all this shame and pain for nothing wrong that he did. I mean, it's one thing to take punishment for something you did. Sometimes when you do something really bad, you take the punishment, you're just like, I deserve this. Think about the thief on the cross. Didn't one of the thieves on the cross say, we deserve this? It's righteous that we're here and suffering. That probably helps him a little bit in the sense that it's like, I deserve this. But not deserving punishment has got to really be an extra layer of suffering to feel like I did nothing wrong. When you get caught doing something wrong in the job or by your parents or whatever, yeah, you feel bad. But doesn't it feel really bad when your brother did it and then you get caught? Someone else does it and you get in trouble for it or whatever? That's even more frustrating. They seem to get more annoyed with the punishment whenever they did nothing wrong. I mean, I've punished my children lots and they scream and they cry. But whenever they get caught, I think, but they were actually innocent, they seem to cry a little bit harder. They're like, it's more of an unjust punishment in your mind. They're just like, but it was Clayton, it was Jackson, it was like, but they did it. Why? Because it's just like an extra injury to what's going on. The fact that you didn't even deserve it. It's an unjust punishment. Or if you even got caught doing something wrong, imagine the world we live in today, our punishments are not biblical. But don't some people get caught for doing something wrong like, let's say they get caught with marijuana or something? But then their punishment's like 25 years in prison. And it's just like, that just seems like way over and above what their punishment should even really be. And so just an extra grievous punishment. They're like, yeah, I'll take my punishment, but not that. Or working at Wells Fargo, don't overdraft your account, okay, FYI. But people would overdraft their account by one transaction, but because they had all these pending transactions, Wells Fargo helps you by reversing the chronological order and putting your largest items first and putting your smallest items at the lower part. So if you overdraft your account by 50 bucks with one transaction, all those $1 and $2 transactions you had done before, they'll just gently move those in front and now you'll get like 10 overdraft fees as opposed to the one that you actually had due to chronological order. Because they just love you and they care about you, okay? And you're like, hey, I'll pay the $35 fee, but I don't really want to pay $400, you know? And so just getting an unjust punishment hurts. It's even worse affliction than having to go through the punishment you feel like you deserve. Christ, he didn't overdraft his account, yet he had to pay for everybody's overdraft fees. He had to pay for all the suffering. Psalms 38, like we were saying. I am feeble and sore broken. You know, this is what the feelings are of your Savior. He felt weak on the cross and sore broken. I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Lord, all my desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee. My heart panteth. My strength faileth me. As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me. My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore and my kinsmen stand afar off. They also that seek after my life lay snares for me. They that seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all the day long. But I, as a deaf man, heard not. And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Thus I was as a man that heareth not and in his mouth are no reproofs. For in thee, O Lord, do I hope. Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God. Notice he's saying, look, even though I'm going through all this pain and all this suffering and my strength is departing from me and there's all these people just lying about me constantly and constantly. You know what? I kept my mouth shut. I didn't reprove them personally. I didn't get up here and just give my opinion about it. Here's the thing. You have to understand Christ obviously reproved people in his ministry, but he was speaking what God the Father told him to speak. And when he's on the cross, he's not getting up there speaking his opinion. He's speaking the things that God the Father wants him to speak. But there will be a day when his wrath has come. You don't want it that day because the Father's committed all judgment of the Son and you don't want to have to go through that judgment. Go back to Isaiah 53 again. Go back to Isaiah 53. When you look at the Old Testament, you actually see some of the emotions that he's going through that you wouldn't necessarily have literally stated in the New Testament. He's saying he's feeble. He's saying his heart's panting. I mean he's just on the cross and just every event, just all the anxiety, all the stress, all the woe. I mean I guarantee if we grab you and we put you up on the chopping block and you're about to die, you're going to start feeling that nausea feeling, that anxiety, that stress, all the hair on the back of your neck is going to stand up. I mean it's just a horrible human experience going through all that pain, the suffering, the death, the woe. He says he just doesn't even have strength anymore. That's what he's going through. That's the emotional state that we get when we read the Scriptures. It's easy to just skip over this, but when you start saying, hey, this is about Jesus, it kind of has a little bit of strength to it. It has a little bit of an emotional appeal. Isaiah 53, look at verse 3. He has 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. He's saying, look, even his friends and his buddies, they couldn't look at him. It was so awful, it was so gruesome, it was so horrifying. He was despised. Verse 4, surely you have borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted because 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. Notice it has nothing to do with you that gets you saved. It's all his stripes, isn't it? It's all what he did, it's all the suffering. Go to Matthew 27. The Bible says, who his own self bear our sins and his own body on the tree. The Bible makes it clear that he took our pain, our transgression, he took the pain that we deserve, he took the sorrows that we deserve, he took the grief that we deserve. We deserve an eternity of grief and sorrow and pain and anguish for the sins that we've committed. We deserve all of these horrible punishments. Someone had to take them, so Jesus took them for us. And on the cross, I mean, not only is he going through just the rejection of man, the rejection of his friends, the rejection of the world, and all this wrongdoing, but even from God. Look at Matthew 27, verse 45. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land into the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried in a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? I mean, if there's anybody that you don't want to forsake you, it's God. If there's one person you don't want to afflict you, it's God. If there's one person you don't want to be looking at you with any kind of negative emotion, it would be God. Yet he took that shame and humiliation for us, and even God looked at him as the serpent on the stick, as burying our sins, as someone who wants to turn his face away. He can't behold sin. Christ became sin for us. Go to Psalms 22. Go to Psalms 22. He had to literally be forsaken by his own father. Can you imagine the look on your child's face if you just drove just out in the middle of nowhere and just opened the door, pushed him out, and said, I'm never going to see you again, and just drove away? Can you imagine the face that your kid would have? Can you imagine the face that Isaac had whenever Abram's sitting there with the with a knife looking down at his son? The horror of a child has to have when his own parent has to literally forsake him. But here's the thing. God had to truly punish sin, and he took it all out on his son for you, for me. The emotional experience that we see in the Bible, and look, he was quoting scripture, and that scripture is all about him. Psalm 22, look at verse 1. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the wounds of my roaring? Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not. And the night season, and am not silent. Thou art holy, O thou that inhabits the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted me, they trusted that thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted thee, were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. They're laughing him to scorn. He's despised. He calls himself a worm. You know, a worm is just considered something that's just putrid, just of no worth, of no value, disgusting. It's not something you like. I mean, worms, it's just, it's gross. He's saying that's what he's like. People just want nothing to do with him. Verse 9, But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly. Be not far from me, for trouble is near. There is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. He's just saying that the Romans and the Jews, they're just looking at him. They're just like, they're just, they're, the gaping's just like giving your mouth open wide with just some kind of, it's just like, ah. You know, they're just looking at him like he's so disgusting and so putrefying and just, just like, ah. They wanted him destroyed. Verse 14, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. You see, what did it feel like to be on the cross? What did, what were the emotions that Christ was going through? He says his heart felt like it completely had melted away. Have you ever had it, had something really bad where it just felt like your heart just literally hurts? Like someone just somehow punched your heart? But it wasn't a physical pain, it was the emotional pain. What would that be like? A loved one dying. But it could be even, you know, a horrible thing like a divorce or it could be, you know, your spouse commits adultery on you or, ah, you know, someone dies or you have something horrible go through. You could literally have this pain in your heart where it just feels like it just melts away. It's just like, it's what Christ is saying his heart is like. His heart is just like melted. It's just gone. It's just destroyed. He said it's melted in the midst of my bowels. It's like his heart just melted and then went down in that pit of your stomach where you get that feeling, the pit of your stomach where it just hurts. I remember talking with someone who went through experience like this where their spouse just wanted nothing to do with them anymore, was just, was committing serial adultery and told them they don't love them anymore, they're not attracted to them anymore, they want nothing to do with them anymore and they just say like my stomach just hurts all the time. It's just like a constant stomachache and my hair is just falling out and it's just like the worst feeling ever. That's how God felt about Israel, constantly committing spiritual adultery on him, right? And look, obviously you make a mistake, get it right, but the person that's just constantly not, you know, fixing it and just you have this constant pain, this constant sorrow and everybody wants to destroy him. He says in verse 30, my strength is dried up like a pot shirt and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws and that has brought me into the dust of death, for dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. His skin is just sunk in so much, he's been beaten so badly, I mean you can literally just see his entire ribcage, all of his body is just there, whether it's been exposed or not, I mean just you can see everything. He's so emaciated, you know, if you see people that are truly starving, not like American homeless people, but like in Africa or one of these third world countries, you can see every bone of their body. Kids that are truly starving, it's grotesque looking, saying that's what it's like with him on the cross, just grotesque. They look and stare upon me. They're looking at Christ like he would the worst car accident you've ever seen, the worst injury you've ever seen, the worst, you know, most grotesque thing ever. That's how they're looking, it's so horrifying. All the humiliation, all their approach, all the shame, all the embarrassment, and here's the thing, when we read about the prophets having something embarrassing or going through some kind of a shame or anything, that was only one small aspect of what Christ was going to go through. We have to understand that emotion that we get and we tie to these people and the pain that they went through, we need to tie it to Christ, the sufferings of Christ. Go to Luke 24. Now what makes me mad about this is not only to go through all the sufferings that I went through, even beyond that, and there's this phony preacher, there's this fake preacher, Manley Perry, who also likes to discredit some of the sufferings of Christ by saying, when he went to hell he didn't suffer. And look, this guy is a moron, he's a fool, and what he's doing is he's just taking all the Old Testament pictures that we have that I've already showed you and just ripping them out when it comes to this subject. You know, I don't want to rip out the Old Testament. I don't want to discredit all the sufferings and the evil that Christ went through. I mean, imagine someone coming to you saying, like, Isaiah 53 was just about Isaiah, not Jesus. Hey, Ezekiel laying on his side, that was just him. He bared the iniquity of the children of Israel, but Christ didn't. I mean, that's the same concept, and they'd be like, well, that's not a clear verse. Yeah, it is. Hey, if you're saved, that's a clear verse. Hey, if you've got the Spirit of God anywhere inside your heart, hey, Isaiah 53 is all about Christ. Hey, Ezekiel's all about Christ. Hey, Moses, everything they went through, it's all about Christ. The Psalms, it's just like Christ on every single page. Every single verse, every single line, it's just, it's all about him. So then, to take all the clear pictures of him in the Old Testament that are clearly about hell, and they'd be like, oh, it's not about him. Just a fool. Someone that doesn't have the Spirit of God or Christ in them. Look at Luke 24, verse 25. This is Christ speaking to a couple of guys, and he says, then he said to them, oh, fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Look, we shouldn't believe some of the Bible. We should believe all of the Bible and all that the prophets have spoken. Verse 26, ought not Christ have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now, you know, this tells me every prophet pictures Jesus. Hey, all the prophets, all the scriptures, he's just going through and just lighting up for them all the pictures of him. And it says that their heart burned within them. Go to Acts chapter 17, go to Acts chapter 17. Look, when we go through the Bible, we get to see the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions that Jesus Christ went through, and some of the most agonizing experiences imaginable. Words can't even suffice what he truly went through. We only have a small glimpse into what the sufferings were like. Acts 17, verse 2, and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus whom I preached unto you is Christ. Now, it's funny that unsaved people have the same problem. You know what it is? You point to them Christ in the Old Testament and they don't get it. You point to them about something that Jesus, hey, this is about Jesus. They don't get it. They don't believe it. But notice what all these guys are doing. They're going back to the Old Testament. Jesus is going back to the Old Testament. Hey, I'm all over it. Hey, the Apostle Paul is going back to the Old Testament. He's like, hey, I'm all over it. And then you go back to the Old Testament. You're like, Christ is all over it. It's like, oh, that's not clear. That's not about Christ. He's like, you sound like an unsaved person. You sound like a fool. That's what Christ said, someone who doesn't believe the Old Testament scriptures. Look, the whole Bible is about Jesus. There's no verse in there. There's no section of scripture that's just like a random one-off, like, hey, we just wanted to tell you a little thing that's just, it has nothing to do with Christ. We're just sitting there for fun. He's not wasting the scriptures. He's not wasting our time. It's all about Jesus. It all points to Christ in some way. Go to Genesis 22. And the apostles were combing through the Old Testament, showing how Christ was on every page and fulfilling the scriptures. And they were getting people saved with the Old Testament, sending to Christ's sacrifice and all of his sacrifice, not just one aspect. As foolish as it would be for me to say Christ suffered one time when he got whipped. That's it. Or Christ suffered one time when they put the crown of thorns on his head. Or Christ suffered one time when they lied about him. Or Christ suffered one time just being on the cross. It doesn't matter what event you're pointing to. To say it was only one is to ignore all the others. And we shouldn't ignore all the others. We should embrace all of them and appreciate all of them. Genesis 22, look at verse 7. And Isaac spake unto Abram his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Notice, what was the whole picture of Abraham and Isaac? A burnt offering. That implies something. Fire. Now what did they do? He laid him on wood, right? And then he was going to kill him, and then what was going to be a burnt offering? Wouldn't that be a real clear picture of Christ dying on the cross, being laid on the wood, dying, and then what? Going to hell. But fortunately for Isaac, he didn't have to be a perfect picture of Christ. He was saved. And that pictures another aspect of the fact that what Isaac deserved, he doesn't have to actually go through. Someone else is going to take his place, and what he truly deserved, he gets to be a scapegoat. He has a scapegoat for him. He basically gets to escape that punishment. And it says in verse 13, And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. There's a picture of the crown of thorns put on Christ, right? And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. But notice, the burnt offering didn't go away. It wasn't like there wasn't any fire anymore. It was the replacement of that animal. It was the picture of how Christ was going to take that picture and not just die, but be burnt too. Not just die, but be burnt. Go to Genesis chapter 37. Go to Genesis chapter 37. This is the horrible experience of seeing, you know, your son being killed and then burnt up, you know. And look, burning up the body is kind of a, is a disrespectful burial. It's a disrespectful way to dispose of a body because you're supposed to be buried is a picture of the fact that you're going to rise again from the dead. The burning is a picture of the fact that you're consumed and destroyed, which is a picture of hell. That's why I don't believe in cremation, why I believe in burial. That's why we're supposed to be buried. We're buried with Christ. We're not cremated with Christ, you know. It says in Genesis 37, verse 23, and it came to pass when Joseph was come unto his brethren that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him. That reminds me of somebody. Oh yeah, Isaiah being naked. Oh yeah, it reminds me of Christ being on the cross and they took his raiment. They took his coat, didn't they? It says, and they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty. There was no water in it. Now look, it's not just saying like, well, and there was a twig in the side, you know, and it was this color. It's not just giving unnecessary details. You know why it's saying there's no water in it? Because there's a place where there's no water. It's called hell. And it's a picture of Christ being thrown into the pit where there is no water. It's not humid down there, Manly Perry. There's no water. None. It might be called a lake. I get confused with that word, but it's a lake of fire, not a lake of water. There is no water. The rich man, when he goes to hell, he wants just a drop of water. Just one drop. He's not getting it. Go to Jeremiah 38. The Bible says in Exodus 29, I'm just reading one verse here, but it says, and thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar. It is a burnt offering of the Lord. It is a sweet saber, an offering made by fire and Lord. If the Bible's not wasteful, okay, which is clearly not, I'm just saying, let's just go with this assumption for half a second. Let's just say it's not wasteful, or it's not even like majority wasteful. How many burnt offerings are mentioned in the Old Testament? And then you're going to tell me it means nothing? I mean, it's just burnt offering after burnt offering after burnt offering after burnt offering after burnt, and you're just like, no significance. Look, the whole Bible is about Jesus, and you're going to tell me, I mean, it uses the word burnt offering dozens and dozens and dozens of times. I mean, it's just, you read, it's just like Leviticus is burnt offering burnt offering burnt offering burnt offering, and you're just like, I wonder what this means. And then mainly, Perry gets up and he's like, well, if Christ went to hell, the Bible tells about it. It's like, well, how many, do you want to read Leviticus again? Like, how many, hey, you have Deuteronomy again? It's like, you know, burnt offering burnt offering burnt offering burnt offering. And then you go through the judges, and it's like, hey, burnt offerings. And then you go to the kings, and it's like burnt offerings. It's just like, offerings and burnt and burnt and burnt. And it's just like, but the Bible would have surely told us somewhere. Yeah, like everywhere. It's like a constant theme. It'd be hard to not be able to prove that Christ went to hell from any book of the Bible. I issue that challenge. Try to find more books that there's no mention in any way, shape or form. Good luck with that. Jeremiah 38, look at verse six. Then took the Jeremiah and cast him in the dungeon of Malchiah, the son of Hamalek that was in the court of the prison. And they let down Jeremiah with cords and in the dungeon, there was no water but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. Oh, again, another prophet being thrown in the pit where there's what? No water. Oh, that's a coincidence, huh? It's not a coincidence. And here's the thing. He wants to really, you know, mainly Perry's just like, it's only the cross, it's only the cross, whatever. It's just like, how many times does the Old Testament even mention cross? There's way, way, way more references in the Old Testament about the burnt offering and Christ going to hell than the cross specifically. I mean, there's, there's not nearly as many mentions about the cross. And obviously he was pierced. Obviously he was laid on wood. Obviously he's going to hang upon a tree. Hey, I can, I can point to the cross all day long. Don't hear me. Don't say, hear what I'm saying wrong. What I am saying is there's more references of the burnt sacrifice. There's more references to him going to a pit where there's no water and then go to Jonah. How about one of the clearest pictures you could ever have? I mean, I guess man, the very just rips this out of his Bible or something. I don't know. It's ridiculous, but I don't want to take away from the sufferings of Christ. And when I read my Bible, it just constantly makes me think of Christ and someone who's unsaved. I guess their agenda is to try and strip Christ away from the Old Testament, strip him away from all the, all the pictures and strip them away from all the, the prophecies and strip them away from all the things that are being mentioned. Now I want to add him to, I want, when you read it, you see him more, not less. You understand to sacrifice more, not less. Jonah chapter one, look at verse 14, wherefore they cried to the Lord and said, we beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee. Let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us innocent blood for thou Lord has done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah and cast him forth in the sea and the sea seized from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly and offered a sacrifice on the Lord and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now here's the thing, if all the prophets picture Jesus, then Jonah has to picture Jesus. Okay? And if we're going to figure out how to apply it, well, this is a great start. They have to sacrifice somebody that's innocent in order for them to be saved. That makes me think of somebody. Oh yeah, Jesus, right? His death. Jonah being thrown in the sea is a picture of Christ and the fact that they had to offer him up in order for God to not be mad at them. Because notice they were in the sea and it was raging and they're in trouble and they're in danger and their life is threatened. That sounds like, hey, you're on your way to hell, buddy. But guess what? You need that sacrifice of someone that's innocent here, this innocent blood, they throw over Jonah and that's what gives them safety. That's what gives them rescue. And that's a picture of salvation. We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice and that's what saves us. So if it's so clear, you know, I would say that's a really clear example. But isn't it even clear when the New Testament tells you specifically that something about a prophet pictures Jesus? Well, I'll just quote for you. You don't have to go there. But Matthew 12, this is Jesus speaking. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the well's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So Christ tells you without doubt, hey, I want to make sure that that story of Jonah, you realize it had something to do with me. It was all about me, okay? And you say, what aspect? The fact that he was in the well's belly for three days and three nights. Now what happens? If Jonah is picturing Christ dying and then going to the well's belly and then that's a picture of Christ dying and then going what? Into the heart of the earth. That sounds like a perfect parallel to me. So let's read Jonah chapter two and see if it gives us any hints as to what that was like for Christ. Jonah chapter two verse one. Then Jonah prayed in the Lord his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell, cried I and now heard is my voice. I could imagine the Ethiopian unit being like, does the prophet speak of himself or some other man? Did the well's belly turn into hell or is it a prophecy of Jesus Christ? Look, a five year old can understand this. It's all about Christ. And notice by reason of mine affliction. Why is he crying? Because of the pain. Because of the, you think it's fun to be in a well's belly? It's not like a holiday in or something, okay? Now that might be humid, but hell is not. There might be water in the well's belly, but there's not in hell. That's way worse. Think about the well's belly. Isn't it kind of, it's all around you. It's all encompassing outer, it's darkness. I mean, there's nothing, and you could probably even have a weightless feeling. I mean, you're in there thinking you might not know which direction you're in. Up, down, left, right. I mean, you're just in this thing. I mean, who knows what's going on? That's got to be horrible suffering. And here's the thing, there's the worst part for Jonah and it kind of parallels the hells. Think about this. Unless he was really thinking about the scripture, he has no idea when he's getting out. Isn't he just going to feel like eternity? I mean, when you're in intense pain, five minutes feels like your whole life. An hour feels like eternity. I mean, this guy's been in their days. After even just a couple days, you might lose track of time. You might have been like, you have no idea. And for people in hell, they will lose track of time. I have no idea. They're never getting out. But that's not what happened with Jonah. Let's keep reading. He says, verse 3, For thou hast cast me into the deep. In the midst of the seas and the floods compass me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight. Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compass me about, even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth, with their bars, was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God? Look, this is metaphors for Jonah, but these are literal for Jesus. He's literally below the mountains. He literally has the earth around him in every single direction. Because it's a globe, okay? Just FYI. Verse 7, When my soul fainted within me. Now, this is how Manly Perry says, this is only about Jonah. Only Jonah had to suffer. Only Jonah had these fillings. You know what that is? That gives Jonah more preeminence than Christ. Because think about it, he's saying, me and Jonah, we have a parallel here, but I didn't suffer, Jonah did. Doesn't that make it where now Jonah had felt worse than Christ and had gone through something more difficult than Christ? But who in their right mind would say that what Jonah went through was worse than Christ being in hell suffering? No one. It's absurdity. It's ridiculous. It's someone that's not saved. But Acts chapter 2, let me give you a few verses. The fish finally vomited Jonah up, and that's a picture of what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. Three days and three nights in Will's belly. Hey, that's a pretty good picture of Christ coming back three days and three nights later. Let's see if we have any other clear verses, though. You say, well, that's just a picture, Pastor Shelley. Okay, how about a clear statement? Acts chapter 2, verse 23. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up. So he died, then he rose up, what, three days later. When he rose him up, what does it say in verse 24? Having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. Look, death is painful because it's called hell. If death was soul sleep, like the Jehovah's Witnesses claim, what would be the pain of death? This verse can't even make sense to a Jehovah's Witness. What's the pain of death? In fact, most of us right now, if I said, hey, you're going to go to sleep and feel nothing, you'd be like, great, sign me up. Where do I sign up for that? It's called rest. That's why heaven's called rest. That's why people that are with Christ are called sleeping and the people that are not with Christ are called dead. Death. No life. Why? Because that's hell. It's pain. Acts chapter 2, verse 31. He's seen this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul is not left in hell, neither is flesh to see corruption. This Jesus is God raised up. Go to Hebrews chapter 2. Go to Hebrews chapter 2. And I'm just giving you a few pictures here. There's so many. I couldn't go through all of them today, but what I want you to do is, when you're reading your Bible, don't stop reading the Old Testament. Keep reading the Old Testament and keep finding Christ in every story. And when you see the prophet going through something terrible, be reminded Christ went through worse. Christ did something less than manly perry and then Jonah went through something worse. He'll figure out what Christ really went through. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 8. Thou has put all things in subjection under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that was not put under him. Now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Now here's the thing. The suffering of death. Has anybody in this room felt the suffering of death? No, because you're not dead. Let me ask you this question. The two thieves that were crucified next to Christ, at the time that they were with Christ, are they suffering the suffering of death? Or is that the suffering of life? So what's the suffering of death? Hell. I mean, if you don't believe he suffered in hell, then this verse doesn't even make sense. And notice it says that he should taste death for every man. Now here's the thing. Did Jesus just kind of physically die, or did he really die? He really died. But here's the thing. He only tasted hell, didn't he? Because taste means a short duration, a short while. Now here's another thing. When it comes to us, we all are going to physically die. Let's read this last verse, and then I want you to go somewhere. But it says in verse 10, for it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, and bring many sons in the glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. So he's saying the tasting of death made him perfect through suffering. So he's saying the tasting of death was sufferings. Okay, go to John chapter 8. Go to John chapter 8. Here's the thing. This verse can only mean hell. Now obviously, in order to get to hell, you have to physically die, okay? That's how you get there. So obviously it's in relation to the fact that you physically died. Sure, of course, absolutely. That's what it's meaning. But it's also meaning hell for sure. It cannot not be meaning hell because he tasted it for us so we don't have to. And the Bible says whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Does that mean that Abraham's still alive on earth? No, but he is still alive. He didn't die, and Isaac didn't die, and Jacob didn't die. Not spiritually, not in their soul. They didn't go to hell. They went and were carried up into heaven. But the Bible says that if you believe in Jesus Christ, while you'll physically die, you will never see death. What it says, this is Jesus, John chapter 8, verse 51. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. How do the Jews interpret this? Verse 52. Then said the Jews on him, Now we know that thou is the devil, Abraham is dead, and the prophets, and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Why do they say taste? Because Christ is saying since you'll never see it, they're saying, you're saying he's not even going to sample it? He's not even going to have a little bit? He's saying no, because Christ tasted it for us. Because Christ tasted death for every man. He came on this earth, he suffered in his life, he was put to death in the flesh, and then he tasted that death for three days and three nights. But he rose again. He was quickened in the spirit. And if you believe in him, you'll never see death. Those who have the viewpoint that Christ didn't go to hell, go to 2nd Corinthians 1, this last verse of your turn. Those are the viewpoint that Christ didn't go to hell and suffer. Well, basically, that makes Jonah not theologically important or significant. The well's belly has, I mean, what's the significance there of him suffering in the well's belly? Explain to me why Jonah suffered in the well's belly if Christ didn't suffer in hell. Good luck with that one. You have to ignore all the other clear pictures and symbols that I showed you in the Bible, and I didn't read them all. Read every burnt sacrifice. Read about Isaac. Read about Joseph. Read about Jeremiah. I mean, it's just like, what do you do with all these pictures? Well, it's not about Christ, though. They have to use reasoning and logic to prove why it didn't happen when we point to verses. They say, well, he's eternal life, so it couldn't happen. And it's like, Jeremiah. Well, but I don't like that, Isaac. You know, it's like, what do they point to? They're not pointing to verses and showing it. They're just like, well, I don't like it. And they try to use logic, and it's like, here's verse. Here's another verse. Here's another verse. Here's the Bible. You know, you can tell he's usually right on doctrine, the guy that's pointing to the Bible. You know, he's usually not right as the guy that's not pointing to the Bible. He's pointing to this, or he's pointing to some dead guy's opinion. Well, there's this dead guy that doesn't believe it. Lester Roloff didn't say that or, you know, some other guy didn't say. It's like, OK, what did Jeremiah say? What did Jonah say? You want to talk to the dead? Hey, I'll talk about dead guys. Jonah and Isaac and Moses. We're going to talk about dead guys. Let's go to them. They're mentioned in the Bible. They they have the Bible about them. You know, in Acts chapter 24, I'll just quote for you for a moment, but it says, but this is Paul speaking unto thee, that after the way that which they call heresy, so worship I, the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law. So Paul, they're like, hey, you're a heretic. And he's like, well, what they call heresy, I call believing all the Bible. So when they say, oh, it's heresy that Jesus went to hell, I say, I believe Jonah. That's the reality. They have to ignore all these pictures. The only one that they can that I've heard of is they go to Daniel, and you don't have to go there for a second time, but where Meshach, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are thrown in the castle or castle of the fire. And there's a fourth that shows up. And Nebuchadnezzar say it's, you know, like the son of God. OK, in the form of the son of God. And it says they have no hurt. Well, we have to do is you have to take all of the parallels and put them together. What could that parallel picture? Well, the fact that they didn't suffer any hell, didn't they? We already saw that in the scripture and that someone else went there with them picturing what Christ would take their place. Now, if Christ in that moment wasn't suffering, I am going to use Jonah to then compare scripture with scripture and realize that wasn't a full and complete picture, just like Isaac didn't have to get killed and burned in the Ram took his place. So I have to compare all of the pictures together and see which parts that they point to. OK, but you have your one little story to ignore all the other hundreds of verses and clear pictures that are also put in there. I know which ones I'm going to believe all of them. You believe one of them, kind of. Look, I don't just believe in the cross. I also believe Jesus went to hell. And he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now, second Corinthians one, look at verse number three, the Bible says, blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us. So our consolation also abounded by Christ. The apostle Paul is saying, well, since Christ is in heaven, we going out and doing his work, us ministering in the spirit of Christ being in us, we are the manifestation of Christ's sufferings in the future. And we get to be a partaker of Christ's sufferings. And when we suffer for Christ, Christ is in a sense suffering. You know, when we do something good unto someone, we've done it unto Christ. And look, when someone persecutes us for righteousness sake, it's their persecuting Christ. Whenever the apostle Paul talks, or is confronted with Jesus Christ, he's telling him he's kicking against the pricks, but he says, why persecute us, thou me? Jesus takes it personal when one of his servants, one of his children is being persecuted. And he's saying, hey, when I get persecuted, when I get lied about, when I suffer for righteousness sake, that's another one of Christ's sufferings in a sense. But you know what comforts us? What Christ did for us. When we think about Christ, and when we read the Bible, and we think about the sufferings that he went through, that comforts us when we go through the persecutions, and the sufferings, and the tribulations that we went through. We look at it and we say, well, what I'm going through is nothing compared to what Christ went through. I mean, you know, the shame and the humiliation he went through, you can't go through that. It's impossible. The pain and the suffering and the agony and the woe, all the evil that he went through, that should comfort us and console us to say, well, if he went through it, then I can go through it. You know, and maybe it helped the prophets. I don't know how much understanding they had, but maybe it helped the prophets that when they went through suffering, they were able to realize this is about what Christ is going to do in the future, what Christ is going to do for me, and the pain and the suffering that he's going to go through. You know, the Bible says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and it sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Look, Christ didn't enjoy the sufferings. It wasn't pleasurable unto him. He endured it. He went through the difficulty. And look, in the Christian life, you know, some people would think like, it seems like you guys are a glutton for punishment. Like, you like it when people persecute you and whatever. And obviously the Bible says we should rejoice. But here's the thing. I'm not rejoicing because I'm enjoying being persecuted. Being persecuted is not fun. Having people lie about you or attack you, having family members and friends distance themselves from you and gape upon you like you're some freak or something, like you're grotesque. That sucks. It's difficult. It's frustrating. Or people lying about you saying, you're in a cult, you know, or, you know, you're, oh, you believe the Bible? You're, you don't believe in science. You know, you don't think that men are women? You don't believe in science. It's like, okay, sure. I mean, just all the crazy stuff that you get attacked for when you're a righteous person. It's not fun. Or literally people are going to be beaten. People are going to be thrown in prison. People are going to lose their job. People are going to be attacked and lied about and slandered and evil is going to happen. But you know what can comfort you is to realize, hey, Christ did it for me. Hey, this isn't anything compared to what Christ did. And we can be constantly comforted and consoled through the sufferings of Christ. And you say, well, how do I get reminded of that? Read your Bible. Not just the new, but even the old. That's, well, let's close in prayer. Thank you, Father, so much for sending your son and the sacrifice that he went through and that what he did was sufficient to pay all of our sins. That it wasn't a multiple time sacrifice. It was a once for all sacrifice. But I pray that we would, as we grow in knowledge and as we continue to read the Bible over and over, that you would just show us even more of the sufferings of Christ. That we'd have a deeper understanding every time we open the scriptures. That we could see all the emotion and the pain and the struggle as a way to console us and to comfort us and to appreciate the love that Christ truly has for us and the love that you have for us by sacrificing your son. And I pray that we would just continue to appreciate what you've given us and that we would just grow in more love towards you every day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.