God’s Response to Our Lost Condition
The good news is, “. . . God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:19).” “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not go on perishing (Greek present tense), but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him” (John 3:16-17). In His priestly prayer, the night before He died for us, Jesus said to His Father, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom You have sent ( John 17:3).” “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all (I Timothy 1:15).”
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit . . . an angel of the Lord appeared to Him [Joseph] in a dream, saying, Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He Who will save His people from their sins. Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Isaiah] might be fulfilled . . . ‘The virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us’” (Matthew 1:18, 200-23).
The Death of Jesus in Our Place
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). Every one of us is guilty of capital crimes against God. We have violated His law and we have violated His person. What He has told us not to do, we have done. What He has told us to do, we have left undone. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us . . . If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” ( I John 1:8,10).
During His brief public ministry (about three and a half years), Jesus promised to die in our place. He said, “I am to good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His lie for His sheep. For this reason My father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away form Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). Since a dead savior can’t save anyone, Jesus also promised to rise from death; “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill Him; and when he has been killed, He will rise three days later (Mark 9:31).” Jesus proved to be “as good as His word.”
“The common people heard Him gladly,” but the rulers of the Jewish people, afraid that the Romans who occupied their homeland would remove them from office if they allowed Jesus to cause a disturbance, decided to eliminate Him. They said, “If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation (John 11:48).” Early in His ministry, they began to plot ways to get rid of Him. Finally, with the help of one of His followers named Judas, they managed one night to arrest Jesus while He was praying in an olive grove called Gethsemane just east of Jerusalem. “And when it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him to their council chamber, saying, ‘If you are the Christ, tell us.’ . . . and they all said, ‘Are you the Son of God, then?’ And He said to them, ‘Yes, I am.’ And they said, ‘What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves form His own mouth.’”
The council, who convicted Jesus of blasphemy, had no authority under the Roman governor to execute Him, so they took Jesus to the Governor himself and pressured him into sentencing Him to death. “And Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, ‘Crucify, crucify Him!’ And he said to them the third time, ‘Why, what evil has this man done? I found in Him no guilt demanding death; I will therefore punish Him and release Him.’ But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that he should be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate passed sentence that their demand should be granted (Luke 23:22-24).”
Crucifixion is one of most inhumane means of torture ever to demonstrate man’s inhumanity to man. It was invented by the Persians. The Greeks under Alexander made little use of it but the Romans developed it to a fine art and used it to make a public example of the consequences of resisting the absolute power of the empire. When the Jewish high priests said to Pilate, “ ‘If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar,’ he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement he then delivered Him to them to be crucified’ ( John 19:12b-16).”
The history of Roman crucifixion gives the impression of gradual evolution as a form of
legal execution. There are records of crucifixion being used by the Romans as a common
punishment. Other accounts say that it was used for slaves, as in the case of the slave uprising
led by Spartacus in 73 BC. 6,000 of the leaders of the rebellion were hanged on crosses that lined Capua-Rome Highway like telephone poles. Those accused of sedition, such as the Galilean Zealots led by Judas of Galilee just prior to the Christian era, were the most likely candidates for crucifixion. It may have been later extended to thieves and rioters in the conquered territories. Nero may have even used it to execute Roman citizens, although, prior to Nero, crucifixion was forbidden to citizens.
By far the most common usage of this form of execution was for those accused of violating Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, by resisting or advocating the overthrow of Imperial rule.
Forms of crosses varied from the “tau cross,” erected in the form of a “T,” to the “X”
shaped crux cominissa, cross of St. Andrew. .” The simplest implement of crucifixion was not a
cross at all but crux simplex, or simple stake. The crux imissa is perhaps the best known, with the upright extending beyond the cross bar. This was likely the type of cross upon which Jesus of Nazareth died, inasmuch as the Gospel writers record that His title, as a charge against Him, “Jesus the Nazarene, The King of The Jews” was inscribed “above His head.” Contrary to most modern portrayals, Romans crosses were comparatively short. The top of the upright was probably between seven and nine feet above ground level. This may have been a deliberate device to facilitate access to the dead body by feral dogs or other wild animals.
Whatever the form of the instrument used, death by crucifixion was one of the most, if not
the very most, exquisite forms of torturous execution ever devised . It consisted not only of the
infliction of excruciating physical pain but also the most intense form of psychological torture
known prior to the twentieth century. In addition to being pinned to the cross in such a way as to elicit the greatest possible bodily agony, the victim was presented publicly naked in such a way as to cause the maximum of shame and disgrace; this in a culture in which public nakedness was the epitome of shame. Because it was originally used to execute slaves, crucifixion never lost its symbolic implication that the crucified person was of the lowest of social classes.
The administration of torture by the Romans in connection with crucifixion was classic in
proportion. It was always preceded by scourging so severe that the lucky ones died under it and
were thus spared the agony and shame of actual crucifixion. Historians estimate that about forty percent of those subjected to Roman scourging didn’t live to be crucified. The scourge consisted of a flagellate composed of multiple rawhide thongs. (It was probably the precursor of the British cat-of-nine-tails). Pieces of metal or bone were tied into the end of each thong to increase its cutting capacity when laid across the victim’s back. In preparation for scourging, the prisoner was stripped naked and his back was stretched taught, either by tying his hands high enough above his head to cause extension or by bending him over a log in such a way as to accomplish the same effect. By Romans law, the scourge fell “forty times save one.” The legal limit was forty stripes but, being sticklers for the letter of the law, the authorities allowed him to be struck only thirty nine times, just to be sure. Following scourging, the prisoner was forced to carry the rough cross beam of his cross on his lacerated back along the most indirect route to the crucifixion site. The site was located prominently in a public square or beside a heavily traveled street of roadway to assure maximum public exposure.
Commonly, there were two methods of attaching a man to the cross. He might be nailed
to the crossbeam which was then forced into a prepared notch cut into the upright or he might be stretched out on his back to be nailed and the entire cross, bearing his weight, dropped into a
previously dug hole. Jesus was nailed to the cross (John 20:25). The nails used were crude
spikes some seven to nine inches in length. These were driven into a point in the wrist known to
modern medicine as the narvicular snuff box to prevent their tearing out through the soft tissue of the hands when the victim’s weight was suspended on them. The knees of the victim were then bent at a slight angle, both legs twisted to the same side and a single nail driven through the largest ankle bones. The design of this hanging position was to make breathing as difficult as
possible. The worst physical pain probably came from the nerves of the wrists and ankles
damaged by the nails.
Between shoulder level and the feet, at a point where it would catch a man’s anus when
he lowered his weight, was a peg fixed into the upright beam of the cross. The pain caused by this peg could be as excruciating as any experienced in the gruesome process.
Forms of crosses varied from the “tau cross,” erected in the form of a “T,” to the “X”
shaped crux cominissa, cross of St. Andrew. .” The simplest implement of crucifixion was not a
cross at all but crux simplex, or simple stake. The crux imissa is perhaps the best known, with the upright extending beyond the cross bar. This was likely the type of cross upon which Jesus of Nazareth died, inasmuch as the Gospel writers record that His title, as a charge against Him, “Jesus the Nazarene, The King of The Jews” was inscribed “above His head.” Contrary to most modern portrayals, Romans crosses were comparatively short. The top of the upright was probably between seven and nine feet above ground level. This may have been a deliberate device to facilitate access to the dead body by feral dogs or other wild animals.
Whatever the form of the instrument used, death by crucifixion was one of the most, if not
the very most, exquisite forms of torturous execution ever devised . It consisted not only of the
infliction of excruciating physical pain but also the most intense form of psychological torture
known prior to the twentieth century. In addition to being pinned to the cross in such a way as to elicit the greatest possible bodily agony, the victim was presented publicly naked in such a way as to cause the maximum of shame and disgrace; this in a culture in which public nakedness was the epitome of shame. Because it was originally used to execute slaves, crucifixion never lost its symbolic implication that the crucified person was of the lowest of social classes.
The administration of torture by the Romans in connection with crucifixion was classic in
proportion. It was always preceded by scourging so severe that the lucky ones died under it and
were thus spared the agony and shame of actual crucifixion. Historians estimate that about forty percent of those subjected to Roman scourging didn’t live to be crucified. The scourge consisted of a flagellate composed of multiple rawhide thongs. (It was probably the precursor of the British cat-of-nine-tails). Pieces of metal or bone were tied into the end of each thong to increase its cutting capacity when laid across the victim’s back. In preparation for scourging, the prisoner was stripped naked and his back was stretched taught, either by tying his hands high enough above his head to cause extension or by bending him over a log in such a way as to accomplish the same effect. By Romans law, the scourge fell “forty times save one.” The legal limit was forty stripes but, being sticklers for the letter of the law, the authorities allowed him to be struck only thirty nine times, just to be sure. Following scourging, the prisoner was forced to carry the rough cross beam of his cross on his lacerated back along the most indirect route to the crucifixion site. The site was located prominently in a public square or beside a heavily traveled street of roadway to assure maximum public exposure.
Commonly, there were two methods of attaching a man to the cross. He might be nailed
to the crossbeam which was then forced into a prepared notch cut into the upright or he might be stretched out on his back to be nailed and the entire cross, bearing his weight, dropped into a
previously dug hole. Jesus was nailed to the cross (John 20:25). The nails used were crude
spikes some seven to nine inches in length. These were driven into a point in the wrist known to
modern medicine as the narvicular snuff box to prevent their tearing out through the soft tissue of the hands when the victim’s weight was suspended on them. The knees of the victim were then bent at a slight angle, both legs twisted to the same side and a single nail driven through the largest ankle bones. The design of this hanging position was to make breathing as difficult as
possible. The worst physical pain probably came from the nerves of the wrists and ankles
damaged by the nails.
Between shoulder level and the feet, at a point where it would catch a man’s anus when
he lowered his weight, was a peg fixed into the upright beam of the cross. The pain caused by this peg could be as excruciating as any experienced in the gruesome process.
Actual death in a crucifixion was caused by several factors. The scourging caused deep
lacerations in the back. The skin was torn away. Muscles and blood vessels were exposed.
Bleeding was torrential. By the time he was given the cross beam to carry, the victim was in
severe shock. Some died on the way to the site of crucifixion. The irritation of torn flesh by the
cross beam that he carried and the exquisite pain of the driven spikes intensified the shock.
In addition to shock that extended throughout the man’s entire system, the position in
which he hung was designed to constrict the rib cage and cause suffocation. When he pulled
himself up, placing his weight entirely on the nails in his wrists, the pain was unbearable. When he relaxed and sagged against the nails in both wrists and ankles, the chest cavity closed in on his lungs making breathing nearly impossible. The additional pain caused by this activity, as well as the prodding of the peg poking from behind, intensified the shock that was already threatening his life. The blood rushed to his head, triggering a massive headache. Fever and chills intermittently shook his body. The loss of blood and lack of adequate oxygen in his lungs sapped his strength until eventually he could struggle no more. His muscles convulsed, insects swarmed into every orifice of his body.
The Crucifixion of Christ
In the climate in which Jesus died, the heat of the sun added to the torture. It also exacerbated the onset of tetanus as well as infection in the wounds. The physical pain of Jesus was increased by the slaps to His face and the crown of thorns driven into his scalp in connection with the scourging.
The spiritual agony of Jesus must have made the physical torture seem almost enjoyable
by comparison! His mother, His aunt and two other women who had followed and served Him
during His ministry looked through their hot tears at His nakedness. His best friend, John stood
beside them, helpless. One of those He had called to be His witnesses had betrayed Him and on
the way to trial the night before He had heard Peter swear that he didn’t know Him.
God Himself, the Heavenly Father who had loved Him in eternity before the world was,
turned His face from Him. “Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf”( II Corinthians 5:21) and He cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?!”)
In the first verse of Psalm 22, these words which picture both His mental and spiritual agony are followed by; “Why are you so far from saving me, and so far from the words of my
groaning? O, my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and I am not silent. Yet
you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me: they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him.’... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; and has melted away within me. My strength has dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; and a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing...”
Six hours after they nailed Jesus to the cross, He cried out between clenched teeth, “It is
finished... Father into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). In the temple, the veil that had for centuries shut people out from the presence of God was split down the middle from top to bottom and He took a repenting criminal to paradise! When the guards came to break His legs so that He would suffocate immediately, they found Him already dead. Just to be sure, they drove a spear into His heart.
A Mayo Clinic report confirms that the drops of sweat-as-blood He shed in Gethsemane
the night before and the blood mingled with water that flowed from the spear wound in His side
combine to indicate that the probable cause of Jesus’ death was a massive heart attack brought
on by shock, suffocation and loss of blood. He literally died of a broken heart!
The Reason for Jesus’ Death
When Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of Satan and committed the first sin on earth,
God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed
and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Genesis
3:15). Most Bible scholars are agreed that this was God’s first promise of the death of Jesus
Christ for our sins. It is God’s means of reconciling the world to Himself.
Sometime prior to His crucifixion, Jesus had said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32). The late Dr. Toyozo Nakarai, a Japanese Old Testament
Professor at Butler University in Indianapolis had been reared as a Buddhist in a Shinto culture.
Concerning his acceptance of Christ as His Lord and Savior he said, “When I realized that Jesus
died for me, I could not resist Him!” Here is the meaning of Jesus’ horrible death.
In Philippians 2:6-11, the apostle Paul wrote, “although He existed in the form of God,
[He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearances as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death , even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In II Corinthians 5:21, the same apostle wrote, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The debate surrounding
Mel Gibson’s depiction of The Passion of Christ as to who is responsible for the death of Christ is
a spurious argument. It was your sin and mine that Jesus became in order to put sin to death and give us life.
“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and
like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:3-6).
lacerations in the back. The skin was torn away. Muscles and blood vessels were exposed.
Bleeding was torrential. By the time he was given the cross beam to carry, the victim was in
severe shock. Some died on the way to the site of crucifixion. The irritation of torn flesh by the
cross beam that he carried and the exquisite pain of the driven spikes intensified the shock.
In addition to shock that extended throughout the man’s entire system, the position in
which he hung was designed to constrict the rib cage and cause suffocation. When he pulled
himself up, placing his weight entirely on the nails in his wrists, the pain was unbearable. When he relaxed and sagged against the nails in both wrists and ankles, the chest cavity closed in on his lungs making breathing nearly impossible. The additional pain caused by this activity, as well as the prodding of the peg poking from behind, intensified the shock that was already threatening his life. The blood rushed to his head, triggering a massive headache. Fever and chills intermittently shook his body. The loss of blood and lack of adequate oxygen in his lungs sapped his strength until eventually he could struggle no more. His muscles convulsed, insects swarmed into every orifice of his body.
The Crucifixion of Christ
In the climate in which Jesus died, the heat of the sun added to the torture. It also exacerbated the onset of tetanus as well as infection in the wounds. The physical pain of Jesus was increased by the slaps to His face and the crown of thorns driven into his scalp in connection with the scourging.
The spiritual agony of Jesus must have made the physical torture seem almost enjoyable
by comparison! His mother, His aunt and two other women who had followed and served Him
during His ministry looked through their hot tears at His nakedness. His best friend, John stood
beside them, helpless. One of those He had called to be His witnesses had betrayed Him and on
the way to trial the night before He had heard Peter swear that he didn’t know Him.
God Himself, the Heavenly Father who had loved Him in eternity before the world was,
turned His face from Him. “Him who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf”( II Corinthians 5:21) and He cried out, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (“My God My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?!”)
In the first verse of Psalm 22, these words which picture both His mental and spiritual agony are followed by; “Why are you so far from saving me, and so far from the words of my
groaning? O, my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and I am not silent. Yet
you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. They cried to you and were saved; in You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me: they hurl insults, shaking their heads: ‘He trusts in the Lord; let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him.’... I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; and has melted away within me. My strength has dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; You lay me in the dust of death. Dogs have surrounded me; and a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing...”
Six hours after they nailed Jesus to the cross, He cried out between clenched teeth, “It is
finished... Father into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). In the temple, the veil that had for centuries shut people out from the presence of God was split down the middle from top to bottom and He took a repenting criminal to paradise! When the guards came to break His legs so that He would suffocate immediately, they found Him already dead. Just to be sure, they drove a spear into His heart.
A Mayo Clinic report confirms that the drops of sweat-as-blood He shed in Gethsemane
the night before and the blood mingled with water that flowed from the spear wound in His side
combine to indicate that the probable cause of Jesus’ death was a massive heart attack brought
on by shock, suffocation and loss of blood. He literally died of a broken heart!
The Reason for Jesus’ Death
When Adam and Eve fell into the temptation of Satan and committed the first sin on earth,
God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed
and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel” (Genesis
3:15). Most Bible scholars are agreed that this was God’s first promise of the death of Jesus
Christ for our sins. It is God’s means of reconciling the world to Himself.
Sometime prior to His crucifixion, Jesus had said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32). The late Dr. Toyozo Nakarai, a Japanese Old Testament
Professor at Butler University in Indianapolis had been reared as a Buddhist in a Shinto culture.
Concerning his acceptance of Christ as His Lord and Savior he said, “When I realized that Jesus
died for me, I could not resist Him!” Here is the meaning of Jesus’ horrible death.
In Philippians 2:6-11, the apostle Paul wrote, “although He existed in the form of God,
[He] did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearances as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death , even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
In II Corinthians 5:21, the same apostle wrote, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin
on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The debate surrounding
Mel Gibson’s depiction of The Passion of Christ as to who is responsible for the death of Christ is
a spurious argument. It was your sin and mine that Jesus became in order to put sin to death and give us life.
“He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and
like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell on Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (Isaiah 53:3-6).
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