How does the crucifixion of Christ prove that the Bible is true? The crucifixion of Christ is recorded in history as an actual event that took place. This section gives a glimpse of what Christ suffered to give mankind hope. Few fully understand the significance of this historical event.
Many have studied the crucifixion and its impact on the body. The mental anguish and spiritual suffering of the Incarnate God for the sins of mankind is one focus, but the physiological aspects of Jesus Christ’s passion and bodily breakdown are another. What did the physical body of Jesus actually endure during those hours of torture?
The practice of crucifixion itself—the torture and execution of a person by fixation to a cross—was first practiced by the Persians. Alexander and his generals brought it back to the Mediterranean world from Egypt and Carthage. The Romans learned the practice and rapidly developed a high degree of efficiency and scope. Several innovations and modifications are described in ancient literature.
The upright portion of the cross (or stipes) had the cross arm (or patibulum) attached two or three feet below its top. This is what we commonly think of today as the classical form of a cross (later named the Latin cross). The common form used in Jesus’s day, however, was the Tau cross, shaped like the Greek letter Tau or like our T. In this cross, the patibulum was placed in a notch at the top of the stipes. Most archaeological evidence points to this type of cross that Jesus was crucified on.
The upright post was generally permanently fixed in the ground at the sight of execution, and the condemned man was forced to carry the patibulum, weighing about 110 pounds, from the prison to the place of execution. Without any historical or biblical proof, medieval and Renaissance painters have given us our picture of Christ carrying the entire cross. But even 110 pounds, after a beating and walking many miles, is a lot.
Many paintings and most of the sculptures of crucifixes today show the nails through the palms. Roman historical accounts and experimental work have shown the nails were driven between the small bones of the wrist and not through the palms. Nails driven through the palms would strip the flesh out from between the fingers when they were trying to support the weight of a human body. This misconception may be through a misunderstanding of Jesus’s words to Thomas, “Observe my hands” (John 20:27). Note that anatomists have always considered the wrists as part of the hand.
The physical passion of Christ began in Gethsemane, miles from His death. Of the many aspects of Jesus’s initial suffering, the one of physiological interest is the bloody sweat. The physician of the group, Luke, mentions the phenomenon: “And being in agony He prayed longer, and His sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down on the ground” (Luke 22:44). Every attempt has been used by modern scholars to explain this phase because this very rarely happens. Medical journals call the phenomenon hematidrosis or blood sweat. Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone can produce marked weakness and possible shock.
After Jesus’s arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, a high priest. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly prompted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spit on Him, and struck Him in the face.
In the early morning, Jesus was battered and bruised, dehydrated and exhausted from a sleepless night. He was taken across Jerusalem to the seat of government of the procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate. Pilate attempted to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to the cries of the mob, Pilate ordered Barabbas released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.
Preparations for the scourging were painful. Typically, a prisoner was stripped of his clothing and his hands tied to a post above his head. The Jews had an ancient law prohibiting no more than 40 lashes. The Pharisees, always making sure that the law was strictly kept, insisted that only 39 lashes were given to Jesus. In case of a miscount, they were sure of remaining within the law.
The Roman legionnaire used a flagrum or flagellum (a short whip), consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. This heavy whip was brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’s shoulders, back, and legs. At first, the heavy thongs cut through His skin only. As the blows continued, they cut deeper into His tissues, producing oozing of blood from the capillaries in the veins of His skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.
The small balls of lead first produced large, deep bruises that were broken open by subsequent blows. Finally, the skin of His back hung in long ribbons and the entire area was an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When the centurion in charge determined that this prisoner was near death, the beating finally stopped.
The half-fainting Jesus was then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers saw a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be King. They threw a robe across His shoulders and placed a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still needed a crown to make their travesty complete. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns (commonly used for firewood) was plaited into the shape of a crown and then pressed into His scalp. Again, there was copious bleeding—the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.
After mocking Jesus and striking Him across the face, the soldiers took the stick from His hand and struck Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, tired from their sadistic sport, they tore the robe from His back. The material had already adhered to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal caused excruciating pain, almost as though He was being whipped again.
Honoring Jewish custom, the Romans returned Jesus’s garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross was tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, headed by a centurion, began its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa, the path of suffering that Jesus walked through to his crucifixion. Despite His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by the large amount of blood loss, was too much. He stumbled and fell. The rough wood of the beam gouged into His lacerated skin and shoulder muscles. He tried to rise, but human strength was nearly pushed beyond its endurance.
The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selected a strong North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus followed, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock. The 650-yard journey from Fortress Antonia to Golgotha was finally completed. The undeserving prisoner was stripped of His clothes, except for a loin cloth, which was allowed for Jews.
The horrible crucifixion then began. Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refused to drink. Simon was ordered to place the patibulum on the ground, and Jesus was quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire felt the depression at the front of Jesus’s wrist. He drove a heavy square, wrought-iron nail through His wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moved to the other side and repeated the action, careful not to pull the arms too tightly but to allow some flex and movement. The patibulum was then lifted in place at the top of the stipes, and the sign stating, “Jesus of Nazareth – King of the Jews” was nailed in place.
His left foot was pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail was driven through the arch of each, leaving His knees moderately flexed. The King was crucified.
As Jesus slowly sagged down with more weight on the nails in His wrists, excruciating, fiery pain shot along His fingers and up His arms to explode in His brain because the nails in His wrists put pressure on His median nerves. As He pushed Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He placed His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again, there was searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of His feet.
At this point, another phenomenon occurred. As His arms were fatigued, great waves of cramps swept over His muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps, He was eventually unable to push Himself upward. Hanging by His arms, the pectoral muscles became paralyzed and the intercostal muscles were unable to act. Breaths could be drawn into His lungs but could not be exhaled. Jesus fought to raise Himself to get even one short breath.
Finally, carbon dioxide built up in His lungs and bloodstream, and the cramps partially subsided. Spasmodically, Jesus was able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He offered the seven short sentences, which are recorded:
The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for his garment, He said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” The second, to the penitent thief also being crucified, He said, “Today you shall be with Me in paradise.” The third, looking down at His terrified, grief-stricken and closest friend, John, He said, “Behold your mother,” and looking to Mary, His mother, “Woman, behold your son.” The fourth cry is from the beginning of Psalm 22: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
After hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, and intermittent partial asphyxiation, while tissue was torn from His lacerated back, another agony began. Crushing pain, deep in His chest, was caused by His pericardium slowly becoming filled with serum and beginning to compress His heart. Psalm 22:14 describes this event, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; it is melted amid My bowels.”
It was almost over. The loss of fluids had reached a critical level. His compressed heart struggled to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. His tortured lungs made a frantic effort to gasp small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues sent their flood of stimuli to His brain. Jesus gasped His fifth cry, “I thirst.”
A sponge soaked in cheap, sour wine, which was a staple of the Roman legionnaires, was lifted to His lips. He didn’t take any.
Psalm 22, foretelling this event, is stirring: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; My tongue cleaves to My jaws, and you have brought Me into the dust of death.”
The body of Jesus entered the final stage, and He felt the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brought out His sixth phrase, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, “It is finished.” His mission of atonement had been completed. Finally, He could allow His body to die.
With one last surge of strength, Jesus once again pressed His torn feet against the nail, straightened His legs, took a deeper breath, and uttered His seventh and last cry, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.”
Humanity paused. The world would change forever.
So that the Sabbath would not be profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was “crucifracture”—the breaking of the leg bones. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward: therefore, the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when they came to Jesus, they saw that this was unnecessary because he was already dead.
To confirm Jesus’s death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium, and into His heart. According to John 19:34, “And immediately there came out blood and water.” Thus, there was an escape of watery fluid from the sac surrounding the heart and blood from the interior of the heart. The Lord died, not from the usual crucifixion and death by suffocation, but of heart failure.
This graphic death is a glimpse of the epitome of evil, which mankind exhibited toward man—and God. It leaves a message that needs a response. How grateful we can be that we have a sequel: a glimpse of the infinite mercy of God toward everyone—the miracle of the atonement and the expectation of permanent healing, acceptance, and new life with Jesus!