Scourging

The gospel accounts of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ tell us that Pontius Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged by Roman soldiers prior to crucifying Him. The scourging of Jesus would have involved stripping Him, tying Him to a post, and beating Him with an instrument which consisted of a short wooden handle to which several leather thongs were attached. Each individual leather thong would have had pieces of jagged metal or bone attached to it on the end. The purpose of the scourging was to physically weaken and to humiliate Jesus prior to His crucifixion. If you have ever seen "The Passion of the Christ", then you most certainly remember the brutal scourging scene in the film.

Jesus was scourged prior to His crucifixion, but Hebrews 12:6 (NKJV) tells us that God also scourges His true children as well:

"For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives."

Verses 7 and 8 then tell us that only God's true children receive His scourging and chastening. In fact, a person who has not been chastened and scourged by God may not be one of His true children.

Scourging is brutal, radical, and extremely painful. Generally, scourging in our lives comes in the form of testings, trials, and sufferings, all as allowed by God as part of His sovereign will and plan. God scourges in order to educate, train, discipline, and perfect His true children, even though the process is an extremely painful one. The objective of God's scourging is to yield "the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it." (Hebrews 12:11, NKJV)

Scourging is never easy and it is never pleasant. God allows it, however, for the perfecting of His true children, and as proof of His love for them.