Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) *

Jesus’ agony on the cross was for all to see, the spectacle of suffering was the deterrent the Romans intended; but Isaiah says Jesus endures spiritual torment.  Can it be that Jesus suffers even as he is glorified?  

The word translated ‘anguish’ is עָמָל amal which means trouble, labour or misery.  It intimates a sustained burden from which there is no escape.

The context is the prophetic chapter that accurately describes Christ’s redemptive and substitutionary agony:

Surely, he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his stripes we are healed. (Ibid 53:4-5)

The gospels all tell of how Jesus submitted himself to this condition:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth. (ibid 53:7-8)

He was the Passover Lamb, sacrificed in order that God’s wrath, having ‘laid in him the iniquity of us all’ (ibid 53:6) may ‘pass over’ those in faith.  

In his vision of the throne room, John the apostle sees the lamb ‘as though it had been slain’, in other words, cut and bloodied.  All sing a new song to the lamb, 

‘Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.’  (Revelation 5:9-10)

In other words, that of prophetic language, opening the seals is possible because of Jesus’ ‘labour’ or burden of the cross from which the wounds are still visible.

Could it be that just as the eternal consequence of unredeemed sin is the endless torment of hell to be endured by all who did not accept ‘Christ and him crucified’, (Paul’s truncated gospel, 1 Corinthians 2:2) that also, for the Son of God, there remains a consequence, which he bears into eternity?

Perhaps this is touching a mystery that is beyond knowing, but there is one certain clue and that it is the stigmata.  One of the twelve disciples, Thomas, was not with the others when the risen Jesus appeared first in their midst in the locked Upper Room, so …

… the other disciples told him, ‘we have seen the Lord.’ 

But he said to them, ‘unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’  (John 20:25)

When Jesus did return a second time, Thomas was present.  Jesus let him examine his injuries, the gash caused by the lance and puncture wounds on ankles and wrists.  Though this was Jesus’ resurrection body, his flesh carried the wounds, ‘as one who was slain’.  Was this display just for Thomas, or was this permanent?

The apostle Paul speaks of the resurrection body in these terms:

 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

‘Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?   (1 Corinthians 15:53-55)

It seems then that Christ’s victory granting imperishable bodies to others, requires Jesus’ resurrection body to bear the scars of that victory into eternity?  And how could that be otherwise.  The gospels and the apostle all strenuously proclaim the cost to Christ of his salvation?  How would that cost of spiritual renewal not be bought without a spiritual payment?

We know that Jesus’ suffering on the cross included a spiritual element, because of the Cry of Dereliction:

‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’  (Matthew 27:46)

Just before Jesus renders up his spirit and commits it to his Father, he is aware that the Father has turned his eyes from the ‘curse’ that Jesus becomes (Galatian 3:13).  This is a fracture in the blessed communion of the trinity.  As this is spiritual, and as the resurrection body is a spiritual body (see again 1 Corinthians 15:44), this occasions the rift to echo throughout eternity.  

Medieval theology asserted that Jesus habituated hell between his death and resurrection; however, counting of the intervening hours can have no meaning in an eternal realm.  

Jesus tells John,  

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega… who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’ (Revelation 1:8)

And, again

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’  (Ibid 22:13)

Jesus exists eternally and is not subject to the temporal, other than during his mortal life where years and days may be tallied.  Time spent in the tomb has no concept for an immortal being.  Whatever burdens Jesus now, he carried before and carries in the future, as seen from a temporal standpoint.

Scripture is not definitive, but suggests that the wounds of Christ are borne by him even as he sits at the right hand of the Father.   The eternal consequences of sin are part of his glorification, in fact, as Jesus links himself suffering and glorification, they are one of the same, as here:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  (John 12:23-25)

In his death and resurrection, Jesus the Pascal Lamb is glorified for all eternity.

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* The quotation from Isaiah says is literal, but for the avoidance of confusion regarding the pronouns, here is another version of the verse from the Orthodox Jewish Bible:

He [Hashem] shall see of the travail of his [Moshiach’s] nefesh, and shall be satisfied; by knowledge of him [Moshiach] shall Tzadik Avdi [“My Righteous Servant,” Moshiach] justify many for he [Moshiach] shall bear their avon (iniquities). 

So it is Jesus the Messiah (Moshiach) who God (Hashem) will see the ‘travail’ of his nefesh (soul).