Remembering the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Posted: Sunday, April 04, 2010
by Mark Parsec
Wordcasters
Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yet, before we may appreciate Christ’s victory over death, it would do us well to remember the terrible suffering He endured and the profound price He chose to pay to demonstrate His great love for us.
We must remember how His body had been brutally beaten and maliciously mutilated. He was stripped of His clothes, slapped, punched, kicked and spat upon. He was beaten with a rod, no doubt the size of a baseball bat.
We must remember how the sadistic Roman soldiers scourged Jesus with a whip worse than the Cat of Nine Tails. The Roman flagrum was an instrument of torture designed to inflict the maximum amount of suffering and pain. This whip had anywhere from 9 to 12 leather straps with lead tips embedded with sharp nails, glass and bone.
Roman scourging was designed to impose a long, slow death, in which the victims would bleed out until they would finally die. Of this the first century historian Flavious Josephus had said, “…certain rebel Jews were torn to pieces by the scourge before being crucified.” Such was the case with Jesus. He was torn to pieces before being crucified.
In the hands of experienced executioners, the flagrum would be used to inflict severe lacerations that would strip the skin from the body, exposing veins, muscles, sinews and entrails. In many victims their skin would be peeled back to the point their ribs were clearly exposed.
We must remember that our Lord did not receive a quick punishment… No. The scourging was not a speedy event. It did not last just ten or fifteen minutes, nor just an hour or two. No… the scourging was a long drawn out torturous affair. It is estimated that the scourging lasted anywhere from 6 to 9 hours. Our Lord’s back, chest, arms and legs were torn to shreds while he stood with his hands tied to a pole.
We must remember too, how once Jesus had been beaten and abused and scourged until the flesh was torn from His body, how the Romans embedded a crown of thorns into His head. The thorns are estimated to have been anywhere from half-an-inch to almost three inches long. Then the soldiers struck Him again with a stick, no doubt causing the thorns to dig deeper into His head.
Jesus was bleeding to death. He collapsed upon the ground. But His torturers were not done with Him yet. And as if all of this was not enough, they tied the heavy crossbeam of the crucifix across His shoulders, the weight of it grinding into His open wounds. With His blood pouring out of Him, it is no wonder that Jesus later collapsed under its weight.
We must remember how the Lord’s torturers drove the nails through His hands and His feet as they nailed Him to the cross. How He hung wounded and bleeding exposed to the elements with the full weight of His body tearing and burning and throbbing. How His lungs filled up with fluids as He struggled for every breath, as He slowly suffocated on the cross.
We must remember how Jesus’ heart finally stopped beating… but His heart did not just slowly stop. It is estimated that the pressures of crucifixion caused His heart to work harder and harder until finally it exploded.
Christ Jesus was dead. He did not sleep. He did not faint. He did not slip into a coma. Jesus died upon the cross, was taken down, and buried in a grave.
Now, this would seem to be the end of the story. But, it is not. For on the third day Jesus was resurrected from the dead and this is the reason that Christians celebrate.
Skeptics, scoff at our faith. They say that if Jesus was the Son of God why did He have to die? Was He not powerful enough to protect Himself from His enemies?
However, the skeptics are misinformed. They do not understand the ways of God. Jesus was not weak. He was not a mere man. Nobody could have taken His life.
In John 10:18 Jesus said, “No man takes my life from me. I lay it down myself. I have the power to lay it down and the power to take it up again.”
You see, Jesus knew better than anyone that our time in this old world is just a brief moment in eternity. Jesus knew that men and women were more than just the bodies they inhabit. Jesus knew that our existence does not end at the grave. Jesus was not afraid of death because He knew there was life after death. That is why He was able to lay down his life, to sacrifice it, to die. Because He knew He would rise up again.
So, when all of the powers of hell came against Him, when His own nation had forsaken Him, when the might of the Roman Empire drove the nails through His hands and His own disciples had abandoned Him… Jesus did not flinch, Jesus did not buckle, Jesus did not surrender because Jesus knew killing the body was not the end.
That is why Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
We are all going to die, at least until the day when Jesus comes again. Then, those who have died in Christ will rise first, and those of us who are alive and remain shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and we shall be gathered together with Him in the clouds, and so we shall ever be with the Lord.
We have a choice to make. Heaven or hell. Jesus or Satan. If we choose Jesus, we choose life everlasting, that where He is we may be also. Any other choice is futile and only ends in death and eternal separation from God.
Some people would like to think there are grey areas. But there is none. There is no fudging, there is no negotiating, there is no compromise, there is no second chance, no reincarnation. There is one life to live and then the judgment.
The question is, “Whose side are you on?” If you choose Jesus, then the blood He spilt was sufficient to pay the price for your sins… forever! The reward is eternal life with Him. However, if you do not choose Jesus, then His blood cannot help you. You will remain in your sins and cast out forever from His presence.
Mark 8:38 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.
Isaiah 53:5
But 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 are healed.
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Well told, Mark. Throughout history mankind has hungered for the one God and redemption. Yet still today with all of the means of communication at hand people still do not grasp the meaning of Christ's death and resurrection. The offering is free, there are no political or financial strings attached, just a personal committment to follow our Lord. Thanks again for submitting this offer of redemption. TedHi Ted,
Thank you for appreciating His gift and for your comments on the article.
God bless you,
Mark
I agree with Ted. The concept of blood for forgiveness is woven throughout the Bible and only makes sense when the blood of Jesus covers oneself. JohnHi John,
It would seem that people nowadays just don't get it. Have we, as a people, gotten that far away from reality?
Thanks for your comments. It is always good to hear from you.
God bless you,
Mark
The agony and slow death of a spiritual savior, focused morbidly on, is hardly a seeming centerpiece for any religion; such a perverse focus of death in agony newly spawns the centuries' old hatred of Jews as deicide is an unforgiveable crime.Thats why such "passion plays" as this article illumines are banned from most of Europe.Such a traditional morbid focus on Christ's agony fractures and destroys the messages he gave us of love and forgiveness, in the eyes of the unschooled watching and listening masses.Anonymous,
I find it quite odd that you can appreciate His message of love and forgiveness and totally miss His message of sacrafice and atonement. It is not that we need to "focus" upon it as much as it is that we need to remember. We live in an age where people have disociated themselves from the cold, hard realities of the suffering and pain that our Lord experienced. This cheapens His sacrifice and, consequently, people find it difficult to truly appreciate what He has done. We live in a "feel good" age where people don't want to look at selflessness, sacrafice and atonement. The vast majority of people, at least in the US, live seriptisious lives of complacency and have lost all empathy for the pain and suffering of others. Let one individual in this society experience His pain and torture and suddenly His sacrafice becomes that much more significant.
It always amazes me how many people think they can get to heaven by their works. Good article Mark.Hi Linda,
Thank you. I always appreciate your comments.
Love ya!
Mark
Excellent - hope you shared this with your congregation on Resurrection Sunday! MArijoHi Marijo,
Thank you! Yes... this was definitely shared with the congregation.
Blessings,
Mark
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