THE CRUCIFIXION
-Introduction
-Last Sunday morning,
we began a series of lesson on God’s pattern for New Testament worship.
-To begin that series,
we focused on the Lord’s Supper – one of the components of our worship.
-We looked
at the institution of the Lord’s Supper by Jesus, the emblems to be
used, when
and how
often we are to partake, the purpose and who it is that is to partake of
it.
-In regards to the
purpose of the Lord’s Supper, I said I hoped to further address that
aspect of the
subject in an
additional lesson. So, that is what we’ll do at this time.
-Lord’s
Supper – An Item of Great Significance!
-When it comes to the
Lord’s Supper (as with the other parts of our worship as well) we need
to
be careful that it
does not become “just routine.”
-When we do
things repetitively they sometimes loose their significance. We must
not let
that
happen with the Lord’s Supper (or with the other parts of worship).
-1 Cor 11:23-26 – “in
remembrance” of Jesus – a matter of utmost significance
-In
Remembrance of Him
-The night Jesus
instituted the Lord’s Supper, He was betrayed by Judas and the events
surrounding the crucifixion began.
-Sang a hymn and went to the mount of Olives (Matt
26:30), prayerful agony in the Garden
of Gethsemane (Luke 22:41-44), the mob came and took
Jesus from the Mount of Olives to
Annas (John 18:21-13) and then Caiaphas (John 18:24)
where He stood before the
Sanhedrin. In this illegal gathering Jewish leaders
falsely accused Jesus and ineffectively
used false witnesses against Him (Mark 14:55-64). At
this point, we have a record of some
of the physical and verbal abuse of Jesus which
continued throughout the night and into the
next day (Matt 26:67-68). Jesus stood before the
Sanhedrin again “when the morning was
come” (Matt 27:1). He was then led to Pilate (Matt
27:2) who then sent Jesus to Herod
Antipas (Luke 23:6-10). Herod sent Jesus back to
Pilate (Luke 23:11). Pilate addressed the
angry mob and proclaimed the innocence of Jesus (Luke
23:14). However, Pilate gave in to
the demands of the angry mob that cried out, “Crucify
Him, crucify Him” (Luke 23:21).
-Matt 27:25-31 - Jesus
was taken to “Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull” (Matt
27:33),
and nailed to a cross and lifted up to die a despised
and shameful death in view of the people.
-The Crucifixion
-It is interesting that the scriptures do not reveal very
many of the details involved with the
crucifixion. We’re told that the people continued to
verbally scorn and mock Jesus as He
hung there suffering. We’re told of a few things that
were said and done during the crucifixion
but we are not given very many details at all.
-I think this is another strong evidence of the
inspiration of the scriptures. Mankind wouldn’t
record such a horrible event with the
“matter-of-factness” that we find in the scriptures.
Mankind would be inclined to include the many
details involved either in support or in
opposition to Jesus.
-What are some of the details?
-The Details of the Crucifixion
-Most of our ideas about the scene of the crucifixion
have been formed from artwork. That
artwork excludes some of the atrocities and
misrepresents other details.
-For a outstanding lesson on the crucifixion, listen to
Wayne Jackson’s lesson at
http://www.christiancourier.com/audio/inRemembrance.htm.
-Crucifixion was the most horrible manner of death known
to mankind. It was utterly
despised by the Jews (Deut 21:22-23, Gal 3:13).
-It had been used by a variety of different nations:
-Alexander the Great, upon defeating the city
of Tyre, had 2,000 of its people crucified.
-A Jewish ruler (between the Greek & Roman
rule), Alexander Jannaeus had 800 Pharisees
crucified.
-It seems that the process had been “perfected” by the
Romans.
-It began with a scourging: whip with three leather
straps with pieces of bone or metal
-The person was stripped of their clothing and
placed on a large slanted pole so that their
skin would be stretched tight. They would
then be whipped from the their neck to their feet.
-The skin & muscles would be ripped apart and
at times the spinal column would be exposed.
-Many went into shock and died at this stage.
-The person would bear the cross or a portion of it to
the site of execution where they would be
stripped of their clothes and tied or nailed to the
cross. Of course, Jesus was nailed to the cross.
-The nails in His hands would have been nailed
through His wrists. In the Greek language,
the word for “hand” includes the wrist area. The
severed nerves resulted in excrutiating pain.
-The word “excruciating” is derived
from “crucifixion”.
-In 1968, archeologists discovered the remains of some
Jews who had been crucified upon the
destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
-One of them had a spike driven through his
heel. It seems that his two feet had been
separated, one to each side of the cross, and
nailed separately through the heel. The spike
that was used was made of iron – 7 inches
long. It was similar to a railroad spike.
-When the person was raised up on the cross, the weight
of the body would immediately cause
the shoulders to pop out of joint.
-The victim’s feet were a short distance off
the ground– from a few inches up to approx 3 feet.
-The bodies of most victims were allowed to rot on the
cross. Therefore, dogs and other
animals would stay around the crucifixion
sites and eat the bodies. At times, they would
start eating on the victims before they died.
-A number of doctors have studied the process of
crucifixion and have determined two primary
causes of death:
-Hypovolemic shock – low blood volume
-As the body loses blood and other
fluids, the kidneys shut down causing insatiable thirst.
-Under continued stress, the
heartbeat became erradic.
-Exhaustion asphyxiation – suffocation
-The person could not breath in the
position they hung in. To breath, the victim had to
pull up with their arms and push
up with their feet.
-Mark 15:25 – third hour; Matt
27:46 – ninth hour = Six hours of suffering.
-Ps 22
-Summary and Invitation
-Crucifixion was the most horrible and shameful method of
death known to man.
-Heb 12:2
-“Out of the ugliness and agony of crucifixion, God
accomplished the greatest good of all –
the redemption of sinners” – (from Nelson’s
Illustrated Bible Dictionary, © 1986, Thomas Nelson
Publishers) -1 Pet 1:18-23
-These are the types of things we should reflect on while
partaking of the Lord’s Supper –
in remembrance of Jesus and what He suffered on our
behalf and what He made available to us.
-Jesus died on the cross so that we could be saved.
-To be saved, we must not only remember His sacrifice,
but properly respond to it. Have you?
-Believe (John 8:24), Confess (Matt 10:32),
Repent (Luke 13:3), Be Baptized (Mark 16:16)
-We are then to walk in newness of life (Rom
6:4). We aren’t perfect so we continually need
the forgiveness of God through Jesus – 1 John
1:7-9.
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