His physical pain and death
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” (NIV) Galatians 3:13
Did you miss the introduction? The message of the cross
Mere words cannot describe the physical torture our Savior had to endure before, during, and after the crucifixion. I had literally sobbed within as I researched on this subject. What amazes me is that Pilate, wishing to satisfy the multitude, released Barabbas, the real criminal, and gave Jesus up to be ruthlessly and brutally scourged (Mark 15:15-20). Extra biblical accounts reveal that since there were no lictors (professional scourgers) at Pilate’s disposal, he used the soldiers. These vile bloodthirsty misanthropists of soldiers “exceeded the brutality meted out by the lictors” (John Peter Lange). According to Eusebius of Caesarea, the church historian of the third century, after the ruthless and brutal scourging by the use of a flagrum or a cat-o’-nine tails (long, lashing pieces of bone and metal), the sufferer’s “veins were laid bare, and … the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.”
After suffering such an abominable ordeal, the journey to the place of crucifixion – Golgotha was a Herculean task for our Savior. Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry the cross (Matthew 27:32). The eventual crucifixion on the cross represented the pinnacle of his torture. The abominableness of this torture was realized by Rome’s most famous orator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, who said, “Even the mere word, cross, must remain far not only from the lips of the citizens of Rome, but also from their thoughts, their eyes, and their ears.” The cross was to be unheard of, unseen of, and unthought-of. “For indeed a death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of horrible and ghastly – dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus, shame, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds – all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of consciousness” (Frederick W. Farrar). A physician writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1986 explained the pain that would have been experienced in death by crucifixion:
Adequate exhalation required lifting the body by pushing up on the feet and by flexing the elbows. . . . However, this maneuver would place the entire weight of the body on the tarsals and would produce searing pain. Furthermore, flexion of the elbows would cause rotation of the wrists about the iron nails and cause fiery pain along the damaged median nerves. . . . Muscle cramps and paresthesias of the outstretched and uplifted arms would add to the discomfort. As a result, each respiratory effort would become agonizing and tiring and lead eventually to asphyxia.
Come to think of it, our Savior suffered all these ruthlessness and brutality from the hands of His own creatures. He had the power to command “more than twelve legions of angels” to his rescue (Matthew 26:53), even in His human form. Nevertheless he set his teeth on edge like a flint and endured the cross for you and me. The question is: Are you going to allow His death to be in vain? As you contemplate on this question, ponder on these words from a song I transcribed:
The Lamb of God who died and rose again and lives forever,
He conquered death and paved the way for you and me together.
But I turned my back on Him and walked the way that leads to danger;
And He called to me to lead me home to Heaven.
Amazing love, how can this be?
All the way from Heaven He came;
On a tree He died in shame,
Just to save a poor and wretched soul like me
I am the reason He came
And He gave His life for me
I am the reason He came
Just to wipe my tears away
And to heal this broken heart of mine.