Get Yourself Saved NOW !!!

Christianity itself and thus our eternal life hinges upon whether Jesus actually died, was buried and rose again. Here we will see if we can prove this beyond all doubt and thereby totally destroy any arguments of those, who usually for the furtherance of their own agenda, cast doubt.

Let us first piece together the time line of Jesus’ last hours…

Taking the accounts of the crucifixion, which due to its importance is recorded in all four Gospels, we can deduce that Jesus arose at some point on the day before His crucifixion and never again slept.

Mark tells of a previous day earlier in Jesus’ ministry when Jesus arose “…in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.” (Mark 1:35)

We are not given a time on the day before His crucifixion that He arose but seeing as He had predicted His death and knew that this was His time, it would not be unreasonable to imagine Him arising early to pray upon this day. Seeing however that this is not a fact proven in Scripture we will suggest that daybreak or around 6am would be a reasonable assumption.

We do know from Scripture that Jesus died at 3pm the following afternoon and can therefore assume that at that point He had been awake for at least 33 hours. Imagine that for a moment, then let us proceed.

After His Last Supper He and His Apostles walked over the brook Cedron (John 18:1) and into the Garden of Gethsemene (Matt 26:36).

Once there, Jesus left His disciples and went to pray. “And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly; and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44)

Many scoffers suggest that this is an impossibility and therefore an incorrect and exaggerated account of the facts. Think again !!!

As any doctor will tell you, Hematidrosis is an extreme medical condition resulting from intense mental anguish or high anxiety (usually when faced with the knowledge of imminent death – it has been seen in a number of executionees) in which the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down.

The blood released mixes with the sweat and thus the person literally sweats drops of blood !!!

Hematidrosis also makes the skin extraordinarily tender and markedly fragile, making all of what Jesus was about to endure even more severe and tremendously more painful.

At His arrest they laid their hands on Him (Mark 14:46) and He was bound (John 18:13) and then led away to be questioned.

Jesus was then subjected to trials during the rest of the night, immediately followed by more trials after daybreak on the day of His crucifixion.

From the time His Last Supper ended until his sentence by Pontius Pilate, Jesus had walked over 5 miles and the majority of this in custody and bound and weakened by the effects of the Hematidrosis and increasingly by how He was treated by His custodians.

During that night He was accused by false witnesses in several illegal (held at night) trials; subjected to the anger of the High Priest, spat on, slapped in the face and then blindfolded and punched in the face (an immensely cruel method of torture as the victim is unable to gauge either when or from where a destructive blow is coming and therefore cannot “roll with the punch” - just imagine that for a second…) and was beaten by the chief priests, elders and scribes whilst they mocked and blasphemed Him.

Remember, that His skin was already in an abnormally tender and fragile condition, making the slightest of touches severely painful BEFORE all of this punishment was unleashed onto Him – and throughout it !!!

As the night drew to an end and this blindfolded terror at the hands of the Sanhedrin came to a close, Jesus was handed over to the Romans and it is at this point, that I hand you over to the medical profession…

Pilate orders Jesus to be flogged as required by Roman law before crucifixion Traditionally, the accused stood naked, and the flogging covered the area from the shoulders (down the length of the back and the buttocks) down to the upper legs.

The whip (a flagellum for scourging (Matt27:26)) consisted of several strips of leather. In the middle of the strips were metal balls that hit the skin, causing deep bruising. In addition, sheep bone was attached to the tips of each strip.

When the bone makes contact with Jesus’ skin, it digs into His muscles, tearing out chunks of flesh and exposing the bone beneath. The flogging leaves the skin on Jesus’ back in long ribbons. (The back would be so shredded that part of the spine was sometimes exposed by the deep, deep cuts – Eusebius wrote of a flogging “‘The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.’ )

[NB - Historically we know that many died just from the intensity and brutality of the scourging – whereas under Jewish Law 39 lashes were administered, under Roman Law there was no such limit and the floggers could whip someone until the men (there were usually two) doing the whipping were too exhausted to continue !!!]

By this point, He has lost a great volume of blood which causes His blood pressure to fall and puts Him into shock (Hypovolemic shock). The human body attempts to remedy imbalances such as decreased blood volume, so Jesus’ thirst is His body’s natural response to His suffering (John 19:28)(as His kidneys would have stopped producing urine in response to the loss of blood). If He would have drank water, His blood volume would have increased.

Roman soldiers place a crown of thorns on Jesus’ head and a robe on His back (Matthew 27:28-29). The robe helps the blood clot (similar to putting a piece of tissue on a cut from shaving) to prevent Jesus from sustaining more blood loss. As they hit Jesus in the head (Matthew 27:30), the thorns from the crown (possibly 3-5 inches in length) push into the skin and He begins bleeding profusely. The thorns also cause damage to the nerve that supplies the face, causing intense pain down His face and neck.

As they mock Him, the soldiers also belittle Jesus by spitting on Him (Matthew 27:30). They rip the robe off Jesus’ back and the bleeding starts afresh.

Jesus’ physical condition becomes critical. Due to severe blood loss without replacement, Jesus is undoubtedly in shock. As such, He is unable to carry the cross and Simon of Cyrene executes this task (Matthew 27:32).

The accused needed to be nailed to the “patibulum” (horizontal part of the cross) while lying down, so Jesus is thrown to the ground, reopening His wounds, grinding in dirt, and causing bleeding. They nail His “hands” to the patibulum. The Greek meaning of “hands” includes the wrist. It is more likely that the nails went through Jesus’ wrists. If the nails were driven into the hand, the weight of the arms would cause the nail to rip through the soft flesh.

Therefore, the upper body would not be held to the cross. If placed in the wrist, the bones in the lower portion of the hand support the weight of the arms and the body remains nailed to the cross. The huge nail (7 – 9 inches long) damages or severs the major nerve to the hand (the median nerve) upon impact. This causes continuous agonizing pain up both of Jesus’ arms.

Once the victim is secured, the guards lift the patibulum and place it on the “stipes” (vertical part of the cross) already in the ground. As it is lifted, Jesus’ full weight pulls down on His nailed wrists and His shoulders and elbows dislocate (Psalm 22:14). In this position, Jesus’ arms stretch to a minimum of six inches longer than their original length.

It is highly likely that Jesus’ feet were nailed through the tops as often pictured. In this position (with the knees flexed at between 45 and 90 degrees so the victim must bear his weight using the muscles of the thighs), the ankles would support the nails and would not rip through the soft tissue as would have occurred with the hands.

Again, the nail would cause severe nerve damage (it severs the dorsal pedal artery of the foot) and acute pain.

Normally, to breathe in, the diaphragm (the large muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdominal cavity) must move down. This enlarges the chest cavity and air automatically moves into the lungs (inhalation). To exhale, the diaphragm rises up, which compresses the air in the lungs and forces the air out (exhalation).

As Jesus hangs on the cross, the weight of His body pulls the diaphragm down and the air moves into His lungs and remains there. Jesus must push up on His painful nailed feet using his fatigued thigh muscles (causing more pain) to exhale.

In order to speak, air must pass over the vocal cords during exhalation. The Gospels note that Jesus spoke seven brief times from the cross. It is amazing that despite His pain, He pushes up to say “Forgive them” (Luke 23:34).

The difficulty surrounding exhalation leads to a slow form of suffocation. Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, (respiratory acidosis ) resulting in a high level of carbonic acid in the blood. The body responds instinctively, triggering the desire to breathe. At the same time, the heart beats faster to circulate available oxygen.

The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion).

The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim.

The decreased oxygen also damages the heart itself (myocardial infarction) which leads to cardiac arrest. In severe cases of cardiac stress, the heart can even burst, a process known as cardiac rupture. Jesus most likely died of a heart attack, or even ruptured – Broken Heart.

After Jesus’ death, the soldiers break the legs of the two criminals crucified alongside Him (John 19:32), causing suffocation. Death would then occur quicker.

When they came to Jesus, He was already dead so they did not break His legs (John 19:33). Instead, the soldiers pierced His side (John 19:34) to assure that He was dead. In doing this, it is reported that “blood and water came out” (John 19:34), referring to the watery fluid surrounding the heart and lungs.

Do you now believe that Jesus was dead?

Consider these final three points…

Firstly, the Jewish leaders of the day wanted to make sure Jesus was dead and “besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:31 referring to Jesus and the two thieves that were crucified with Him)

The soldiers broke the legs of the first thief but saw that Jesus was “dead already” (John 19:33). These soldiers are professionals at crucifixion. This is what they do !!!

Even so – knowing that He was dead already – taking into account that He would not be breathing at all (an easy thing to ascertain in crucifixion seeing as we have already seen in our medical report the animation of a person’s body, that taking just one breath involved) – they STILL pierced His side and the blood and the water that poured forth (John 19:34) TOTALLY confirmed that death had already taken place.

Secondly Pontius Pilate, when asked if Jesus’ body could be taken down agreed if and only if Jesus was certified as BEING DEAD FOR A WHILE by a Centurion (Mark 15:44).

(NB We know that Jesus died sometime around 3pm (Matt 27:46-50, Matk 15:34-37) and this request was not made until the evening (Matt 27:57-58,Mark 15:42-46)

The centurion placed in charge of that task was head over a team of 100 professional Roman executioners – this was their job – to fail, even once, in this task of ensuring death, would not just cost them a punishment, or even their job but would cost them THEIR OWN LIFE.

They knew what they were doing – they knew what they were looking for and had already made doubly sure when they placed the spear in Jesus’ side. They knew without any doubt whatsoever that they had successfully confirmed another victim’s death.

The Centurion could properly and officially report that Jesus had been dead for a while and then and ONLY then, did Pilate allow Jesus’ body to be removed from the cross to be buried. (Mark 15:45)

(NB – The chief priests and Pharisees, when asking Pilate for a guard to be placed at the tomb to stop Jesus’ disciples stealing His body away said “…we remember that that deceiver said, WHILE HE WAS YET ALIVE, “After three days I will rise again”” (Matt 27:63 emphasis mine) showing that they KNEW that Jesus had in fact died)

Thirdly and finally, At the time of Jesus’ death there had been “darkness over the whole land” (Mark 15:33) for the last 3 hours. “…the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.” (Matt 27:51 NASB)

(NB: These events are confirmed as happening by the Greek historian Thallus writing in 52AD (quoted by Julian Africanus (160-240 AD) – “On the whole world there pressed a most fearful darkness; and the rocks were rent by an earthquake, and many places in Judea and other districts were thrown down. This darkness Thallus, in the third book of his History, calls, as appears to me without reason, an eclipse of the sun. For the Hebrews celebrate the passover on the 14th day according to the moon, and the passion of our Saviour falls on the day before the passover; but an eclipse of the sun takes place only when the moon comes under the sun. And it cannot happen at any other time but in the interval between the first day of the new moon and the last of the old, that is, at their junction: how then should an eclipse be supposed to happen when the moon is almost diametrically opposite the sun? “

The 2nd century secular Roman historian Phlegon also states “In the fourth year, however, of Olympiad 202, an eclipse of the sun happened, greater and more excellent than any that had happened before it; at the sixth hour, day turned into dark night, so that the stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia toppled many buildings of the city of Nicaea “

Again Julius Africanus refers to Phlegon’s record “in the time of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour to the ninth – manifestly that one of which we speak. But what has an eclipse in common with an earthquake, the rending rocks, and the resurrection of the dead, and so great a perturbation throughout the universe? Surely no such event as this is recorded for a long period. But it was a darkness induced by God, because the Lord happened then to suffer.”)

This was not an event that anyone could accidentally miss !!!

“Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this WAS the Son of God!”” (Matt 27:54 NASB Emphasis mine)

It was plain and obvious to all who watched Him die (Romans and Jews and Jesus’ friends), to all whose lives depended on the fact that Jesus had died (the Roman Centurion and soldiers) and to all those who had wanted to kill Him (the Jewish Chief Priests, Pharisees, Elders and Scribes) that JESUS WAS DEAD !!!

According to our present medical profession nearly 2000 years later, using all of modern day science, centuries of empirical evidence and whether their faith depends upon it or not – Jesus was dead.

Therefore I conclude that it is without any shadow of any doubt that – as He had Himself predicted and as the Old Testament Scriptures also had predicted about Him – JESUS WAS BEATEN, SCOURGED AND CRUCIFIED THAT DAY AND DIED !!!

Next we will discover whether He was truly victorious over that death…

Did Jesus really rise from the dead? CLICK HERE