Consider the Cross of Christ

As we approach the celebration of Easter Sunday, we have cause to pause and remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross. While this is an act which should not be easily forgotten, the story of the cross of Christ all too often becomes commonplace, even for followers of Jesus. I came across an article several years ago which has helped me to battle this sinful tendency toward complacency in matters of Jesus’ great sacrifice for my soul. It is the account of a medical doctor who set forth to record the events of Jesus’ crucifixion based upon the record of the Gospels. It deserves a most careful reading.

As Dr. Truman Davis contemplated the story of Christ, it dawned on him that he didn’t know the actual immediate cause of death for a victim of crucifixion; so, he began to study the ancient practice of torture and death by fixation to a cross.

The preliminary scourging was done with the victim naked, his arms tied to a post above his head. The heavy whip is brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper until the half-fainting victim is untied and allowed to slump to the pavement, wet in his own blood.

A heavy crossbeam is tied across his shoulders, but in spite of his efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance.

At the site of the execution, the crossbeam is thrown down, and the victim is pushed to the ground, his arms stretching over the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side. Jesus is hauled upon and lifted onto the upright post.

The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain—the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places his full weight on the nail through his feet. Again, there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet.

At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward. Hanging by the arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. The victim fights to raise himself up in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that Jesus uttered the seven short sentences recorded.

The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus, the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. This was unnecessary for Christ, who died after six hours of crucifixion.

Apparently, to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. There was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

Even without the advanced knowledge of medical science, the hymn writer John Newton would write the following poem while pondering the cross of Christ.

In evil long I took delight, Unawed by shame or fear, Till a new object struck my sight, And stopp'd my wild career: I saw One hanging on a Tree in agonies and blood, Who fix'd His languid eyes on me. As near His Cross I stood.

Sure never till my latest breath, Can I forget that look: It seem'd to charge me with His death, Though not a word He spoke: My conscience felt and own'd the guilt, And plunged me in despair: I saw my sins His Blood had spilt, And help'd to nail Him there.

Alas! I knew not what I did! But now my tears are vain: Where shall my trembling soul be hid? For I the Lord have slain!

A second look He gave, which said, "I freely all forgive; This blood is for thy ransom paid; I die that thou may'st live."

Thus, while His death my sin displays In all its blackest hue, Such is the mystery of grace, It seals my pardon too. With pleasing grief, and mournful joy, My spirit now if fill'd, That I should such a life destroy, Yet live by Him I kill'd!

As we celebrate Christ’s glorious resurrection, may we not too quickly pass over the testimony of Christ’s death: “They had him crucified…” (Matthew 27:35).

Jason