The tragedy behind the Savior's suffering is that he, being perfect, was subjected to what no other man could have suffered, or endured. Certainly, there were many in Jesus' day who died a horrible death on the cross; however, Jesus' most severe suffering began in the Garden. Both the fall of man and his redemption began in a garden. And though no one knows the extent of what he suffered, he had to take upon himself the sins of this entire world. This means that in some way we don't understand, he experienced everything...every sickness, every infirmity, every emotional and physical woe suffered by every man, woman and child since the Earth began; thus, no one can ever say they suffered more because he suffered your afflictions.
He is 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. Surely he hath 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 every one to his own way; and the Lord hath 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. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53)
As many see it, the Lord took upon himself the ills of mankind to such an extent that his suffering was more than any mortal could have withstood. By the time he was arrested, he had gone through much of his suffering; a suffering that caused him to shake with pain and bleed from every pore. In the Discourse on the Abbaton, a very old work, we see just how bad the suffering was said to have been:
And [the Father] heaved sighs over [Messiah], saying, 'If I put breath into this [man], he must suffer many pains.’ And I said unto My Father, ‘Put breath into him; I will be an advocate for him.’ And My Father said unto Me, ‘If I put breath into him, My beloved Son, Thou wilt be obliged to go down into the world, and to suffer many pains for him before Thou shalt have redeemed him, and made him to come back to his primal state.’ And I said unto My Father, ‘Put breath into him; I will be his advocate, and I will go down into the world, and will fulfil Thy command.’” (Ernest A. Wallis Budge, Coptic Martyrdoms (London: British Museum, 1914))
According to this text, the Messiah's mission will be one of extreme anguish:
There are souls that have been put away with thee under My throne, and it is their sins which will bend thee down under a yoke of iron and make thee like a calf whose eyes grow dim with suffering, and will choke thy spirit as with a yoke; because of the sins of these souls thy tongue will cleave to the roof of my mouth. Art thou willing to endure such things?
The Messiah will ask the Holy One, blessed be He: Will my suffering last many years?
The Holy One, blessed be He, will reply: Upon thy life and the life of My head, it is a period of seven years which I have decreed for thee. But if thy soul is sad at the prospect of thy suffering, I shall at this moment banish these sinful souls.
The Messiah will say: Master of the universe, with joy in my soul and gladness in my heart I take this suffering upon myself, provided that not one person in Israel perish; that not only those who are alive be saved in my days, but that also those who are dead, who died from the days of Adam up to the time of redemption; and that not only these be saved in my days, but also those who died as abortions; and that not only these be saved in my days, but all those whom Thou thoughtest to create [evidently as mortals] but were not created. Such are the things I desire, and for these I am ready to take upon myself [whatever Thou decreest].
The suffering and death of the Messiah was required for our salvation, and even God himself could not change that (despite what the Muslims think). The reason is that God must balance Justice with Compassion. His compassion brought about the redemption, but it was not an easy measure for either the Father or Son because of the suffering that was required, which had to be a power of a God, perfect in every way. So it wasn't the death that they drew back from, but the intense suffering that was of concern.
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