THE CAST OF THE CRUCIFIXION

This week is extremely important to those who call themselves believers and followers of Jesus Christ....this is the week that saw our Lord give himself upon the cross.

For He chose the nails and in that decision, He forever showed his immense love for you and me. But, along the road that led to the Via Dolorosa, Christ encountered many who aided in his demise and who broke his heart...the heart of God.

This week we will take a look inside the hearts,minds and maybe, even the souls of those that condemed our Savior to his death and we will examine the broken hearts of those that loved him and saw him die....and I trust and pray that you will find yourself in the company of those that were heart-broken at His death....not in the company that made His death a reality.

But before we examine this cast of the crucifixion, I would like to encourage you to read the following two blogs that were written in July of last year, entitled ...OUT OF THE CROSS....and may your heart be broken because of what Christ endured so that you might FOREVER BELONG TO HIM!!!!



OUT OF THE CROSS - PART ONE


I just finished reading Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Christ…a legal journalist’s personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus. I read it all with a great hunger to see how he would treat the historical and empirical evidence regarding Christ. It is a compelling read, a must for every believer….not to bring you to faith, but to give greater clarity to what you already believe.

One chapter really tore me up….it dealt with the medical evidence regarding the torture and crucifixion of my Lord. I was NOT prepared for the insight of this chapter and the vivid picture that was indelibly imprinted in my heart and soul. The expert, Dr. Alexander Metherell, shared the weight of his medical and scientific credentials to set aside any thought that somehow the crucifixion of Christ was a staged event…that He swooned upon the cross, was pronounced dead and then was revived after he was taken down from the cross and put in a cool tomb.

As I read the following, I came to the stark realization of what Christ endured upon the cross so that I might be saved…

The torture before the cross is enough to kill most men, thirty-nine lashes or more depending on the mood of the soldier. The beating began at the shoulders, down the back, the buttocks and the legs; each lash with this braided leather thong embedded with metal balls and chards of bone literally ripping the flesh away, exposing bones, muscles, veins and often vital organs. The prisoner enters hypovolemic shock often fainting and dying from massive blood loss. Christ, already at the point of exhaustion and collapse, was in serious to critical condition, but he did not succumb to death (we have the written text regarding the Crucifixion). The soldiers would have laid Christ on a horizontal beam and nailed a 5-7 inch spike into each wrist just below the palm…to have nailed it into his palm would have been futile… his weight would have torn the skin and he would fallen from the cross. The Romans knew the nature of this business all too well.

The pain from this action would have been UNBEARABLE. Imagine, if you can, that feeling of pain that you get when you hit the ulna nerve (your funny bone). It’s extremely painful when you bang your elbow, even if only a glancing blow. What if someone could grab that nerve with a pair of pliers and squeeze and twist without letting go…the effect would be similar to what Jesus endured. In fact, the pain was so unbearable that there was literally no word to describe it; they had to invent a new word…. EXCRUCIATING, meaning, “Out of the Cross”.

Think on that for just a moment if you can…the pain that Christ endured on the cross for you and for me was so unbearable, so life-devastating, so beyond words….that they had to create a word that would somehow capture the intense anguish and pain caused during the crucifixion….

THEN….Jesus was hoisted on the crossbar to be attached to the vertical stake having his feet nailed in the same manner, crushing and impaling the nerves in his feet. The weight of his body would have immediately pulled and stretched his arms, probably six inches in length and would have dislocated his shoulders…now death by asphyxiation had begun….

Tomorrow, we’ll examine the rest of the story… and how it impacts you and me.

Humbled by His Grace,
WPQ


OUT OF THE CROSS - PART TWO

AND NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY….as Dr. Alexander Metherell continues,

Once a person is hanging on the cross in the vertical position, crucifixion is an agonizing slow death by asphyxiation. The stresses that are placed on the muscles and the diaphragm in the inhaled position are acute; one, literally, must push up on his feet so the tension in the muscles is eased for a moment, allowing him to exhale. Each rise and fall upon the nail causes the flesh to tear in the foot until it eventually locks against the tarsal bone. Each breath was labored and exhaustive as Christ would scrape his bloodied back against the rough, coarse wood of the cross. As his breathing slowed, a medical condition known as respiratory acidosis occurs…carbon dioxide in the blood is dissolved as carbonic acid which causes an irregular heartbeat. This faint, but irregular heartbeat, would have been known by Jesus and He would have known the very minute of his death before he uttered, “Lord, into Thy Hands I commit my Spirit.” Death would have been sure, but not to a Roman guard. So, upon examination, the soldier took a spear and thrust it in his side, between his ribs, through his lung and into his heart.

A spear thrust into the heart of God….because of me. All that has been described is because of ME. MY SIN…MY SHAME ….MY FAILURES….MY PLACE.

That cross was meant for me …and you. Each labored breath, as Christ rose upon that nail, had the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders…..YOUR SIN AND MINE. He did not have to die; rather He chose to take my place. At any moment, he could have spoken just one word….COME, and the entire heavenly host would have left the glories of heaven in a mass assault against the darkness and evil of that crucifixion. But, he did not cry out for the angels. He would rather have endured the torture and the shame of that cross than to spend eternity without you and me. He spoke but one phrase that resounded throughout the heavenly realm…..IT IS FINISHED !!!!

He gave His life to pay a debt He did not owe and now the torture, the pain, the suffering of the Crucifixion matters not at all …if you and I fail to accept what Christ did to claim us as His own. Do you belong to Him or was His death wasted? Was the pain of this horrific event just a bad story in the history of the world or does it have a personal significance to you? Do you know my Jesus of the Cross or are His life and death of little importance in the greater scheme of your life?

The work has been done…it is finished….and the Christ of Calvary is RISEN.

Is He Alive in You Today?…..if not, let’s talk …the sooner, the better.


Blessed ….Because of the Cross,
WPQ