Why Did Jesus Christ Have to Die?

Well, thank you very much, Jacob. We appreciate that. Truly, who are we that the Great God would consider any of us? But yet, we're His children, and very good message. When you look at the history of crucifixions, you find a lot of interesting information. You find that crucifixion was probably first done among the Persians. Alexander the Great introduced the practice to Egypt and Carthage, and then the Romans appeared to learn about it from the Carthagians.

Although the Romans did not invent the crucifixion, they perfected it. They perfected it as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to produce a slow death and a maximum pain and suffering. You find the Assyrians, Phoenicians, all practice crucifixions. The Greeks did during the Hellenistic times. The Romans, especially during the first century, initially, it was employed as a punishment, not as an execution.

We've all heard the story of Spartacus, which was an actual story. In the Revoltus Spartacus in 71 BC, there were over 6,000 rebels crucified at that time. In 7 AD, there were 2,000 Jews crucified outside of the city of Jerusalem. During Titus' siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the Roman troops crucified as many as 500 Jews a day for several months.

There were literally tens of thousands of them who were crucified. It was one of the most disgraceful and cruel methods of execution and was usually reserved for slaves and for foreigners, for revolutionaries, for the vilest of criminals. Roman law usually protected the Roman citizens, unless they were deserter from the army.

If they were deserter from the army, then they could be crucified. In its earliest forms in Persia, the victim was either tied to a tree or impaled on a stake or a post. It was usually done to keep his feet off of the ground so that his feet would not be on holy ground. So they would hang him up in the air and just leave him to die.

Only later was what we would call a true cross, or they call a true cross, that was characterized by an upright pole called a stipez and a horizontal crossbar called a patthabulam, and it had several variations. You find they had what's traditionally known as the T-cross. There was the X-cross. There was a wheel with various designs in it. There were various types of instruments that they used. Although archaeological and historical evidence strongly indicates that the low tau cross was preferred by the Romans and Palestine in the time of Christ, it often varied, according to the geographical region, in accordance with the imagination of those who were doing the execution.

It was left up to the individual who was actually performing the execution as to how he might want to go about doing it. We're going to see today in the sermon that Jesus Christ knew exactly what he was going to have to go through in order to be our Savior and a sin sacrifice for us. In Revelation 13.8, a scripture we're familiar with, we find that it has this to say about Christ. Revelation 13.8, "...and all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the book of life, the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world." The word, slain, means to slay, to slaughter, or to butcher.

It implies a death by violence. And so, before the foundation of the world, we find that God and his master plan had determined that someone was going to have to die for the sins of mankind, and Jesus Christ was willing to do so. In Philippians 2 and verse 5, we find that Jesus Christ willingly gave himself as a sacrifice. Beginning here in Philippians 2, chapter 5, we find, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

So you and I are to have the same mind, same attitude that Christ had, and we know that God dwelt in him, and he had the mind of the Father. It says, who being in the form of God? Now, here, when it says in the form of God, it means just that he was God prior to coming to the earth, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, or he did not hold on to that.

In other words, he was equal in the sense that he was a spirit being. He had existed for all eternity. He was always under the authority of the one we know as the Father. But yet, he did not hold on or grasp to that. He made himself of no reputation, or he emptied himself of his privileges in the divine family. And so he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant.

He became a human being. You can imagine being all-powerful, exalted, having created everything, and coming down to the earth, giving up the glory that he had, to come to be born of a woman, to become a baby, grow up as a child, mature into a young adult, and then finally, as a mature adult, to die for the sins of mankind, having to struggle against...

let's say, the human elements, having to struggle against Satan, who was out to tempt him in the world, in society, and everything around him. So, as it says, he came with the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death. So Jesus Christ was willing to humble himself and to die, even the death of the cross.

Therefore, God also has exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. So Jesus Christ was a willing sacrifice. In God's plan, one had to die for the sins of mankind, and one whose life was greater than all of the life, some total, of every human individual who's ever lived.

And that had to be one of the family of God. So, brethren, as we take the Passover this year, we need to be reminded. We need to be aware of the price that was paid for our sins, for the forgiveness of our sins, and for our healing. I think if we're not careful, it can begin to become a routine for us.

You know, many of you here, this may be your 30th, 40th, maybe even up to 50th Passover. I think we were counting the other night, this will be my 47th Passover that I've observed. Many of you here have observed it at least that many years or more. And if you're not careful, if we don't really think about it, if we don't really concentrate on it, we can begin to just take things for granted. Christ was made subject to pain and suffering. That's the one thing that's common to all human beings.

Think of your most painful experience you've ever had. It could be a burn, it could be a broken bone, it could be a wreck, it could be childbirth, it could be any number of things. I think probably for me it was a burn that I had on my hand where I cooked my hand with burning frying grease. But all of us have gone through things that have caused pains. People have suffered over the centuries with illnesses, with cancers, with war, with starvation. A man has horribly treated his fellow man down through the centuries.

And human beings have been tortured and they've experienced violence. People have been mutilated. All kinds of sick things have happened. Where human beings, I think inspired by Satan and his demons, have turned their wrath against one another. And yet when you consider all of that, Christ suffered more than any human being. And he suffered for you. He suffered for me. Let's notice back here in Acts chapter 3. Acts chapter 3, beginning in verse 14.

Notice the apostles preaching here. Says, you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the Prince of Life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. And his name, and through faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see. And no, yes, the faith which comes through him. And then verse 17, and now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

And so you find that the holy prophets were inspired to write ahead of time. And the one who inspired that was the one who was Jesus Christ, or became Christ. And so you find it was prophesied that the Messiah would suffer. You find back in Isaiah chapter 53 is a prophecy about Christ's suffering. Christ suffered for us. His sacrifice should be one that is personal. Let's go back to Isaiah 53, beginning here in verse 3. And I want you to notice that Christ did not suffer for himself. You and I, and I think Mr. Lichtenstein explained this very elegantly. If it were a matter that we have to be perfect, or that we are righteous on our own selves to take the Passover, none of us would be taking the Passover. It's only because of God's mercy, God's grace, God's forgiveness, and our willingness to accept what Christ did on our behalf. We find here He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows or pains, and acquainted with grief or sickness. And we hid it, our head as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed Him stricken smitten of God and afflicted. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we were healed. And 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. My sins, Your sins. He was oppressed, He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shear is silent. So He opened not His mouth.

Let's take a look very quickly and see what Christ went through. These are the scriptures that we need to be reviewing as we approach the Passover. We need to be thinking about, we need to be dwelling on. Christ knew He was going to die. I gave a whole sermon on this last year while I went through that whole scenario and showed you so many scriptures that Christ knew He was going to die and what was going to happen to it. This is why He changed the symbols. First of all, to get in Mark 14, verse 22, we could read any one of the other Gospel accounts, but let's read Mark's account here. In verse 22, as they were eating, Mark 14, 22, Jesus took bread, blessed it, break it, gave it to them, and said, Take eat! This is My body. So the fact that He broke that unleavened bread and He passed it around to His disciples, He said, This is a type of My body, a symbolic of what's going to happen to My body. And He knew that later on that night, the next day, His body was going to be broken. It was going to be beaten. It was going to be scourged. And He took the cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. And He said to them, This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many. So He knew He was going to have to pour out His blood and shed His blood. The closer you get to death, the harder it is to look at eyeball to eyeball. And this was certainly true of Christ. He came to the earth to die for His sins. He knew that from a very early age. He knew that He was going to die. And yet, when the full weight of what was going to happen to Him hit Him, Jesus Christ prayed. And we know that He prayed three solid hours. Those aren't the only prayers that He had prayed about this. But this was the final night. Luke 22, chapter 22, and we'll begin to read here in verse 39.

He experienced something that very few people have, but some have. Notice. In coming out in verse 39, He went to the Mount of Olives. As He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. And when He came to the place, He said to them, Pray that you don't enter into temptation. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down, and He prayed. Same Father, if it is your will, remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will, but yours, be done.

Now, I think He knew He was going to have to die. I mean, that was never a question. But I think the suffering, the beating, and all of that, perhaps that's what He's referring to. An angel appeared to Him from heaven and strengthened Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. And His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.

And He arose, and He found that His disciples were asleep.

So He actually was perspiring blood through His pores. Now, there is a medical term for this. It's called hematidrosis.

Which, under great stress, the tiny capillaries in the sweat glands break. And they produce weakness and shock. And as a person perspires, then with those capillaries broken, the blood begins to ooze out of the pores. It was here that Jesus Christ agonized in prayer over what was to occur. Now, I think it's significant when you realize the word in the King James Version for agony that is mentioned. The Greek word for agony here means to engage in combat.

Pink says Jesus agonized over what He was going to go through, feeling that He was at the point of death. I'll just quote this. You might jot it down. Mark 1434.

He said to them, Christ said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch.

So Mark's account in verse 34 of Mark 14 says that, His soul was exceedingly sorrowful even to death.

And yet, in spite of all of that, what did Christ pray? Not my will, but your will be done. Not what I want, but what you want. But he expressed to the Father his feelings. Strong's expanded lexicon has this to say about the word that it is a term used for struggle for victory. A struggle for victory. And it especially was used in gymnastics and exercise, or gymnastics and exercise and wrestling. It's some of the more harder. And it applied to severe mental struggle and emotions and agony and anguish.

And again, it is a medical term. A case history. There are several case histories of this. One case history of this was a young girl who, in World War II, feared air raids. And she developed the condition after a gas explosion occurred in the house next door to her. And so whenever she would hear explosions, she would start bleeding through her pores. She had such a fear that this was going to happen to her. Another report mentions a nun who, as she was threatened with death by the swords of the enemy soldiers, was so terrified that she bled from every part of her body and died of hemorrhage at the sight of her assailants. They didn't lay a hand on her, but just at the fact that they were talking about killing her, she hemorrhaged and bled to death. And so what we need to realize is that Christ didn't have a blase approach when he approached what was going to happen, because he was human. Remember, he was God in the flesh, so he was the Son of Man, he was also the Son of God. And he could feel pain. He had emotions, just like you and I have emotions. He had feelings. Psychologically, he knew what he was about to face. And it was a struggle, and that's why he prayed three solid hours, asking God to give him strength, giving power, helping to go through this, if it could happen some other way to do it. But if he had to go through it, God's will be done. And God said, you're going to have to go through it. And so he did. Now, in chapter 22, beginning in verse 47, you find that Jesus Christ was arrested that evening while he was still speaking. Behold the multitude, and he was called Judas, one of the twelve, came before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss him, because he had told the soldiers, the man that I kissed, that's the one you want to take captive. And then verse 54, "...and having arrested him, they led him and brought him into the high priest's house, and Peter followed at a distance." So they arrested him, and they bring him to the high priest. Now, John's account in John 18, in verse 12, tells you the sequence of events that took place. John 18, in verse 12, "...says now the detachment of troops, and the captain of the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus, and they bound him, and they led him away to Addis first. And he was the father-in-law of Caiapas, who was a high priest that year." Now, it was Caiapas who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

So you find that he is brought before them. Now, verse 19, "...the high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his doctrine, and Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple where the Jews always meet. In secret, I have said nothing. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. Indeed, they know what I said. And when he had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, and said, Do you answer the high priest like this?

Now, the word here for palm of hand can either mean the hand or it can mean a rod, one or the other. It could be a blow with a rod, or a blow with a stick or a staff, or a blow with the flat in the hand or a slap in the face, or a boxing of the ears, according to Strong's Enhance. Lexicon. So what you find, this actually began Christ's night of physical torture, where he struck. In verse 23, Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil. But if well, why do you strike me? And Annas sent him bound to Caiapas, the high priest, at this time. Now he goes to Caiapas, and you find a series of events take place. In chapter 14 of the book of Mark, again, in verse 53, They led Jesus away, Mark 1453, to the high priest, and with him were assembled the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. So the Sanhedrin is meeting together. And Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire. And the chief priests and all the council sought testimony against Jesus, who put him to death, and they found none. If he had been guilty of murder, been guilty of something of this nature, they could have brought charges, but they were trying to find false witnesses. They didn't care if it was the truth, just somebody to stand up and say, Yeah, he did this. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimonies did not agree.

And some rose up and bore false witness, saying, Well, we heard him say that I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. And of course, he was talking about his own body, and in fact, three days later, that he would be resurrected. But even then, but not even then, did their testimony agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, Do you answer nothing? What is it that these men testify against you? And he kept silent and answered nothing, and again the high priest asked him, saying, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? In other words, are you the Promised One, the Messiah?

And Jesus said, I am.

And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power, coming with the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blaspheme. What do you think? And they all condemned him to be worthy of death. So what is the charge? The charge is he blasphemed. He said he was God. And, you know, he's not. And then some began to spit on him, and they blindfold him, and they began to beat him. So here you find all these false accusers. He has to stand there and listen to all of these false accusations. Then they begin to spit in his face. Have you ever had somebody spit on you? I think one of the easiest ways for somebody to get angry is to have somebody spit in their face. And I mean, human nature, you want to retaliate. Well, Christ couldn't do that. And they blindfold him, and they began to beat him. Okay, who beat you? Who did it this time? And so they began to make fun of him. And they said, prophesy, and the officers struck him with the palms of their hands. So they began to buffet him around. They pushed him, and they hit him with their fists, or with their hands. And it could be rods. Then as Isaiah 50, I won't turn there, but Isaiah 50 verse 6 says, I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who plucked out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. So they plucked his hair. They reached out and grabbed his beard, and plucked hair off of his face. Now you find that Jesus Christ was formally condemned by the Sanhedrin. Back in Luke 22 again. Luke chapter 22 verse 66 says, As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together, led him to their counsel, saying, If you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, If I tell you, you will by no means believe, and if I also ask you, you will by no means answer me or let me go. Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? And he said to them, You rightly said that I am. And they said, What further testimony do we need? For we've heard it of ourselves from his own mouth. So they charged him. Now, you find that he was formally condemned by the Sanhedrin.

Christ was sent to Pilate, then to Herod, and back to Pilate. I want you to notice in chapter 23, here in the book of Luke, notice how they changed the charges. They bring him to Pilate. Then the whole multitude of them arose and led him to Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ the King.

Now, in other words, if they're going to go to Pilate and get Pilate to pronounce something against him, Pilate's got to have something that he can say. Well, this man's trying to overthrow the government. He's trying to set himself up as King. He chooses to pay taxes. He's leading an army or a revolt down here. And so, you know, they changed the charges. That'd be like you going to, before a judge and you're accused of speeding, when you get there, they accuse you of manslaughter. And they change the charges on you. Well, this is exactly what happened to Christ. So here we are, early morning, Christ was battered. He was bruised. He was dehydrated. He had stayed up all night. I'm sure he was exhausted from a sleepless night. And we move on to John 19.

John chapter 19 in the sequence of events. And verse 1. And then Pilate, we're skipping over some things, because he went before Pilate. Pilate found that he actually was in Herod's region, so he sent him over to Herod. Herod wanted him to perform some type of miracle. He had heard about all of the miracles he had done. He didn't do that. They made fun of him, ridiculed him, sent him back to Pilate. Finally, we find here, Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.

Now, a very short sentence, but one that has a powerful meaning. Because scourging in the Roman world was something that was called the half-death. It was meant to leave a person half-dead. And if they survived it, if that was the only thing they did to them, they would be crippled for the rest of their lives. That was how bad the beating was. The first thing they would do is strip all your clothes off of you. They would tie your hands to a post or to something, generally spread eagle. And there was a professional called a lictor. Roman lictor, he was an individual who knew how to use a whip. This whip was a flag-grump. It wasn't just what we think of a bull whip. But it was a whip that had anywhere between eight to nineteen different thongs or strips on it that had pieces of metal, of glass, of ivory attached to it. And he would take that and whirl it around and wrap it around a person. And just as it hit, he would yank. And what it would do was yank flesh out, cut the skin, the pieces of metal, and the pieces of ivory and glass would dig in. And the subcutaneous deposits or areas of tissue would begin to ooze blood out. You could have spurting arterial bleeding from the muscles. And after doing this, they wouldn't do it more than thirty-nine times, but after doing this, they would absolutely leave a person in ribbons. Basically, almost strip the body of skin. They would be an unrecognizable mass of bleeding tissue. It is interesting, I have a number of articles dealing with this from the medical perspective of what happens when something like this takes place. As the Roman soldiers repeatedly struck the victims back with full force, the iron ball would cause deep contusions. The leather thongs and cheekbones would cut into the skin and subcutaneous tissues. Then, as the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh. Pain and blood loss generally set the stage for circulatory shock. The extent of blood loss may well have determined how long the victim would survive on the cross. If you lost too much blood, then you would die pretty quickly if you were crucified. Hold your place here, but let's go back to Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52 describes what Christ looked like once he was scourged. Verse 14. Isaiah 52, verse 14.

As many were astonished at you, so his visage was marred more than any man. Or, as several translations say, unlike a man, where his face did not even look like a man anymore, and his form more than the sun's amin'. And he sprinkled many nations, and kings shall shut their mouths at him. And then again, Isaiah 53, it goes on to describe the pain and the suffering that he was exposed to. Now, coming back to John 19, verse 2. After Christ had been scourged, I think Pilate's motive was, well, if he scourges them, this would satisfy the Jewish leaders. And then they'd leave him alone, and he would live. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and they said, Hail, king of the Jews! And they struck him with their hands.

Now, when you... I don't know if you've ever been stuck by a thorn before. Most of us may have it time to time, but you stick a crown of thorns on somebody's head, especially where the skin has been ripped open. And sort of crunch it around. These were Roman soldiers, and they had no love for the Jews. Extremely painful, and then they continued to smack him and to beat him. And then you find, in verse 4, Pilate then went out again and said to them, Behold, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him. Unusual treatment for somebody you can't find any fault in him. And then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said, Behold the man. And therefore, when the chief priest and officer saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him! Crucify him! And Pilate said to them, You take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. And the Jews answered, We have a law, according to our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. And therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was more afraid. And so you find then Jesus Christ was led away to be crucified. In verse 15, And they cried out, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! And Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered and said, We have no king but Caesar. Notice the hypocrisy here. They had no allegiance to Rome whatsoever.

And so he delivered him to them to be crucified, and so they took Jesus and led him away. And he, bearing his cross, went out to a place called the Place of the Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. And where they crucified him and two others with him, one on the other side and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing said, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

Now Jesus Christ had placed on his back. Apparently, the cross being that would have gone on this, he would have had rough wood across his shoulders that would have lacerated his back. It was 650 yards from Fortress Antonio to Golgotha, where he had to walk before being crucified. Notice another account, a write-up of this. Since it was customary for the condemned man to carry his own cross from the flogging post to the site of the crucifixion outside of the city walls, he was usually naked unless this was prohibited by local custom. Since the weight of the entire cross was probably well over 300 pounds, only the crossbar was carried.

The petribulum, or crossbar, weighed 75 to 125 pounds, was placed across the naps of the neck and balanced with both shoulders. Usually, the outstretched arms were then tied to the crossbar. You had to hold on to it. And because Christ fell under the weight of that, that grabbed someone out of the crowd to then carry it. The processional to the site of the crucifixion was then by a complete Roman military guard headed by Centurion. One of the soldiers carried a sign, the tiddalus, on which the condemned man's name and crime was displayed. Later, the tiddalus would be attached to the top of the cross, and the Roman guards would not leave the victim until they were sure of his death. One way of doing that was to poke a spear at his side to make sure that he was dead. Sometimes there might have been a little life left there, and they might have flinched or jumped. So they made sure. Several years ago, there appeared an article in the Biblical Archaeological Review, page 44, where they found evidence of a crucifixion. It's interesting because they actually have a skeleton preserved that was crucified. You find that they used a 7.5-inch-long nail in the feet, and they drove it into a knot. They were not able to pull the nail out, so they amputated the feet. Cut the feet off because they couldn't get the nail out. Basically, what they did was they took a square nail, but generally a square nail, and drove it through what is commonly referred to as the wrist or forearm. Most pictures you see of Christ being crucified have a nail driven through his palm. That's not strong enough to hold the weight of a body. The weight would rip it out. The normal place where a nail was driven was either here or here. In this particular man, they found the nail was driven up here through the forearm, the upper wrist area. They know that because there are scars on the bone where the nail was driven through.

Also, the feet were, in many cases, and this happened to this individual, the two feet were turned parallel. A nail was driven through the heel of both. If I could illustrate for you, they didn't cross the leg like this. They took a foot and turned it to the side, the other one to the side, and then they pulled the person back this way so you were in a crouched position. That's an extremely painful position to start with, but that was the type of position this individual was found to be in because they have part of the bones with the nails driven through so they could ascertain exactly how it happened.

Now, as a person would sag down, the medium nerve in the wrists and the metatarsal bones in the feet would be in a great deal of pain. There'd be great waves of cramps and muscle knotting. Without supplemental body support, victims usually died of muscular spasms and asphyxiation within two or three hours. So if they wanted them to hang on and die slowly, they provided what was called a sedil, a small seat. Often, it was pointed that you could rest on the seat and get some comfort. Also, a foot support. This would allow a person sometimes to be on the stake for two or three days before they die.

If they wanted to get over quickly, then they would take those things away. Carbon dioxide would build up in the lungs. Let me read to you on this from the medical aspects of the crucifixion from the article that I mentioned. It says, without the knowledge of both anatomy and ancient crucifixion practices, one may reconstruct the probable medical aspects of this form of slow execution. Each wound apparently was intended to produce intense agony and contributing cause of death were numerous. The scourging prior to crucifixion served to weaken the condemned man and if blood loss was considerable, to produce orthostatic hypotension and even hypo-pholemic shock to the individual. When the victim was thrown to the ground on his back in preparation for the transfiction of the hands, his scourging wounds would most likely be torn open again with the contaminated dirt.

Then he would be placed against this pole. Moreover, or furthermore, with each respiration, the painful scourging wounds would be scraped against the rough wood of the post. As a result, blood loss from the back probably would continue throughout the crucifixion ordeal. With arms outstretched but not torn, the wrists were nailed to the cross-beam.

It has been shown that the ligaments and bones of the wrists can support the weight of the body hanging from them, but the palms cannot. Accordingly, the iron spikes were probably driven between the radius and the carpals, or between the two rows of the carpal bones, and the various inter-carpal ligaments. Although a nail in either location in the wrist might pass through the bony elements and thereby produce no fracture, the likelihood of pain and injury would seem great. Furthermore, the driven nail would crush or sever the rather large sensor motor median nerve. The stimulated nerve would produce excruciating bolts of fiery pain in both hands.

The severed medium nerve would result in paralysis of a portion of the hand, which would normally produce a claw-like grasp for the individual who was hung there. The feet would be in sheer agony. Most commonly, the feet were fixed to the front of the stippus by means of an iron spike driven through the first or second inter-metatarsal space, just distal to the tarsal-metatarsal joint.

It is likely that the deep pyroneal nerve and branches of the medial and lateral plantar nerves would have been injured by the nails. Although scurging may have resulted in considerable blood loss, crucifixion, per se, was a relatively bloodless procedure with no major arteries other than perhaps the deep plantar arch.

The major pathological effect of crucifixion beyond the excruciating pain was a marked interference with normal respiration. As you sigh down, it puts pressure on the lungs and you're not able to breathe. So what happens is a person almost asphyxiates themselves, so they have to heat themselves up. When they do that, they can get a breath, but then the pain becomes so great in the feet and spasms in the legs that you have to sigh down again.

So you have this constant rising up and down, up and down, that an individual would go through. The weight of the body pulling down on the outstretched arms and soldiers would tend to fix the intercoastal muscles in an inhalation state and thereby hinder passive exaltation. Accordingly, exhalation was primarily diaphragm and breathing was shallow. Then it goes on to talk, and there are a number of other things here, talking about the shock that a person goes through. They go on to say that this was one of the most excruciating deaths that a person can suffer. It is significant that the word excruciating comes from the Latin word meaning out of the cross.

So even there in the Latin derivation, they catch the meaning of that. Now, as Jesus Christ was hanging there, and he knew that he had to do this so that he would be a sacrifice for our sins, he had many thoughts that went through his mind. Back in Psalm 22, beginning in verse 6, we find here is a psalm of Christ as he hung on the stake, and you find what is going through his mind. He said, I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. All those who see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip.

They shake their heads, saying, while he trusted in the Lord, let him rescue him, let him deliver him since he delighted in him. So they make fun of Christ. In verse 12, many bulls have surrounded me, strong bulls of Baysham have encircled me, they gape at me with their mouths as a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like pot-shirt, and my tongue clings to my jaws.

You have brought me to the dust of death, for dogs have surrounded me, and the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. He could look down and see his ribs exposed. He could see the arm bones, his bones and his legs, where the flesh had been ripped off. They had been exposed, and it says all of his bones were out of joint. I can count all my bones, and they look and stare at me.

They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast luts. You get an idea of what Jesus Christ was going through. Again, you find that I have another quote here, but I think I'll skip it because it deals with the discovery of this Jewish man. It was significant that they opened up a cave, and they found 35 individuals interred in this particular cave. One of them was this individual who had been crucified.

I want you to notice, going back to John, John 19, verse 31. Therefore, because it was a preparation day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross, on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

When they broke the legs, they were no longer able to heed themselves, and so within a few minutes they were asphyxiated and died. So you find that the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and the other who was crucified with him. When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, and that they did not break his legs, but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. Now, there are some translations, like the Fenton and the Moffat, that the soldiers had pierced his side.

In Matthew 27, verses 49-50, you might remember that years ago we had an article that we put out on this. Basically, what it seems to be is that one of the soldiers, who knows how to spite her hatred or whatever, came up to Christ while he was still alive, and the Bible says that Christ did what?

He cried out with a loud voice, and he uttered up the Spirit. Now, if somebody poked a spear in your side and ripped your belly open, you'd cry out. This is exactly what Christ did. His blood, urine, water, and so on came out of his body and ran down that stake. As the Bible says, through his blood our sins are forgiven. By his stripes we are healed.

So, Christ died of a spear wound, and prior to that he went through all of this excruciating suffering. Brethren, why did Christ do this? Because of you, and because of me. It was our sins that were responsible for his death. Christ died so that every human being would have an opportunity for salvation, that all of us could have our sins forgiven, and that we could receive his Spirit. So, brethren, when we come tomorrow night to take the Passover, let's take the Passover, not taking it for granted, but with an understanding of how great Christ's sacrifice truly was.