“They crucified Him”

The words of the crucifixion are simple:  “And they crucified Him” (Mk. 15:24).

Yet there is a horror behind this kind of death, as one doctor has told:

Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backwards with His shoulders against 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 and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes [the vertical beam].…

The left foot is 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, fiery 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, another phenomenon occurs. 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.…Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one small 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.…

Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is tom from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber: Then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.…

It is now almost over—the loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level—the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues—the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air.…

The body of Jesus is not in extremis, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues.…

His mission of atonement has been completed.  Finally He can allow His body to die. [Truman Davis, “The Crucifixion of Jesus,” quoted in Expositor’s Bible Commentary.]

While all this is true, it is also not the ultimate death of Christ.  As another doctor has noted,

Much has been written on the exact medical cause of Jesus’s death. The possibilities include cardiac rupture, asphyxiation, cardiac arrhythmia, and hypovolemic shock. However, a close examination of Scripture gives the proper answer to this question. John 10:17–18 tell us, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

When Jesus had fulfilled all on the cross, John 19:30 tells us, “He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

It usually took two to five days for a person to die by crucifixion. Jesus died in only a few hours. Why the difference? The reason is simply that Jesus chose to die. He willingly gave up His life when His work was done.

We would all do well to remember that at any point Jesus could have stopped the terrible torture that He suffered. He endured it because He loves us, despite our unworthiness.

As horrible as His physical suffering was, we must understand that it paled in comparison to the suffering He endured in His heart, as He took upon Himself the sins of the world and was separated from His Father. That is indeed love beyond compare. [Dr. Tommy Mitchell, “Our Suffering Savior.”]

The horror of the physical death of Christ is nothing compared to His cry of grief over the greatest horror of the cross — being forsaken by the Father and absorbing the Father’s infinite wrath against sin, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (v. 34).  Our redemption and His obedience to the Father’s eternal plan is why Christ died.  And this is in the background to the simple declaration, “They crucified Him.”