The Physical Death of Jesus' Crucifixion

At Easter, we celebrate the resurrection and are reminded of Christ’s suffering on the Cross. We all have a point of reference to understand suffering. However, Jesus endured extreme suffering; some began before the Cross. As He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, the agony of His pending fate caused Him to sweat blood.

Can we ever fully understand the suffering and penalty Jesus paid for ours sins? During this Holy Season of celebrating our risen Savior, take a moment to reflect on the price Jesus paid for us, for you, for me, so that we might spend eternity in Heaven with Him. The following is excerpted from “Reason and Revelation” copyright of Apologetics Press. It is a difffult read, but one that depicts a greater understanding of the completed work of Jesus on the Cross. He gave His life for us in love so we might have eternal life. My pastor taught from John 18 yesterday. He said at the time of Christ's death on the cross, a total of 332 Old Testament prophecies had come true.

Jesus was scourged. “In their critically acclaimed article, “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” in the March 21, 1986 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, William Edwards and his coauthors (of the famed Mayo Clinic) described the instrument used by the Roman soldiers for flogging as “a short whip (flagrum or flagellum) with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals” (Edwards, et al., 1986, 256:1457, parenthetical item in orig.). Edwards and his colleagues described Christ’s scourging in the following manner: “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 (1986, 256:1457).”

“Having suffered considerable blood loss from the scourging, Jesus likely was in a dehydrated state when He finally reached the top of this small knoll. Jesus was offered two drinks at Golgotha. The first—a drugged wine (i.e., mixed with myrrh) that served as a mild analgesic to deaden some of the pain—was offered immediately upon His arrival (Shroud, 1871; Davis, 1965, p. 186). However, after having tasted it, Christ refused the concoction. He chose to face death with a clear mind so He could conquer it willfully as He submitted Himself to the cruelty of the cross. “And when they came to a place called Golgotha, they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it” (Matthew 27:33-34). This particular drink was intended to dull the pain in preparation for the next step of crucifixion—the nailing of the hands and feet. Thus, it would have been around this time that a battered, bleeding Jesus was thrown to the ground and nailed to the cross.

“Christ’s hands and feet were nailed to the cross. Archaeological data indicate that the specific nails used during the time of Christ’s crucifixion were tapered iron spikes five to seven inches long with a square shaft approximately three-eighths of an inch across (Haas, 1970; Tzaferis, 1970; Clements, 1992, p. 108). Various studies have demonstrated that the bony palms cannot support the weight of a body hanging from them (e.g., Barbet, 1953). The weight of the body would tear quite easily through the lumbricals and flexor tendons—breaking the metacarpal bones as the nails pulled free—allowing the body to fall to the Earth. However, in ancient terminology, the wrist was considered to be part of the hand (Barbet, 1953, p. 106; Davis, 1965, p. 184; Major, 1999, 19:86).

“The pain Christ must have experienced up to this point would have been excruciating, and yet the Roman soldiers were about to deliver even more. There were many ways to nail the feet to the stipes, but most required the knees to be flexed and rotated laterally. It would not be uncommon by this time for insects to burrow into open wounds or orifices (such as the nose, mouth, ears, and eyes) of a crucified victim; additionally birds of prey frequently were known to feed off the tattered wounds (Cooper, 1883). It was in this position, with His precious blood seeping down the cross, that Christ uttered the amazing statement: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

“Even though blood poured from His lacerated back, one major pathophysiological impairment Jesus faced during crucifixion was normal respiration (i.e., breathing). Maximum inhalation would have been possible only when the body weight was supported by the nailed wrists of the outstretched arms. When Christ first was lifted onto the splinter-covered surface of the cross, His arms and body were stretched out in the form of a “Y.” A momentary “T” position would be required to allow proper support for inhalation. Thus, in order to breathe He was required to lift His body using His nailed wrists for leverage. Exhalation would be impossible in this position, and the immense pain placed on the wrists quickly would become too great; therefore, Christ would have to slump back into a “Y” position to exhale. Jesus would be forced to continue alternating between the “Y” and “T” positions with every breath, trying all the while not to reopen the wounds He had received from the scourging. Fatigued muscles eventually would begin to spasm, and Christ would become exhausted from these repeated tasks, slumping permanently into the shape of a “Y.” In this position, chest and respiratory muscles soon would become paralyzed from the increased strain and pain. Without strength for breath, Christ’s body would begin to suffer from asphyxia.

“As insects and dogs circled, and as passersby spat on Him, Christ—with blood dripping from the open wounds on His back and nail holes in His hands and feet—shouldered the sins of the world. As exposed nerves exploded into unbearable pain with each movement, and as His internal organs began failing due to a lack of sufficient oxygen, for the first and only time in His life, Jesus found Himself separated from His Father. Matthew 27:46 describes His anguish: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ ” This was the first time in His life, so far as Scripture records, that Jesus did not address God as His Father. Isaiah 59:2 informs us of that separation, and the reason that God had to turn His face from His sin-laden Son: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, so that he will not Hear.”

“It is with both medical and biblical certainty that we know Christ died upon the cross at Calvary. He was laid in a tomb with nail wounds in His hands and feet, and still possessed those scars following His resurrection. The extreme physical insults to Christ’s body left Him ragged, torn, bleeding, and tormented with pain. Yet He endured willingly all the agony and torment of the cross for each one of us. We would do well to heed the advice of the writer of the book of Hebrews, who said: “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (12:2).”

“Oh, the overwhelming love that God showed each one of us when He allowed His only begotten Son to suffer that excruciating (Latin, excruciates, or “out of the cross”) pain and agony—for our sake!

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