There is a scientific article about the death of Jesus, published in 1986 in one of the most prestigious scientific journals in the world—the JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.
The article is titled “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ”.
In it, the authors prove that the Roman flogging process was horribly cruel. Technical details are outlined, which, along with the Biblical narrative, provide a comprehensive overview of this entire process, from the trial to death on the cross.
Before judgment, it is narrated in Luke 22 that Jesus was in deep distress and sweating blood. Although a rare phenomenon, doctors recognize this feature as hematidrosis, which can occur due to high-stress levels.
After being judged, Jesus was violently whipped with a leather whip, with tiny balls of iron on the tips and pointy bones. The balls of iron caused internal injuries and bones tore apart flesh, exposing skeletal muscle and causing major blood loss, which probably left him in a pre-collision state.
After a severe flogging, Jesus was mocked, spat on, and forced to carry his own cross to Golgotha.
During the crucifixion, the accused was thrown on the cross on the ground and nailed with nails as long as 18 cm long on the wrists and feet.
Crucifixion was a process that produced intense pain and caused a slow and suffocating death.
Breathing was extremely painful. With every breath, Jesus had to lift his back up in live flesh, dragging it across the wood, and supporting all the weight on the feet, which were nailed. The fact that it increased blood loss and caused terrible pain.
The causes of death by crucifixion could be several, but the two most common were hypovolemic shock and suffocation from exhaustion.
When the Gospel of John narrates that after Jesus’ death a soldier stabbed him with a spear and came out “blood and water”, the scientist’s explanation is that the water probably represented pleural fluid and serous pericardium. It was preceded by the flow of blood and it would be less volume than blood. Perhaps in the scenario of hypovolemia and acute heart failure, pleural and pericardic flashes could have developed and been added to the apparent volume of water.
Only by analyzing Jesus’ physical suffering, do we realize how terrible it must have been to endure all this. Intense stress, sleepless night, unfair judgment, brutal lashing, mocked, and still having to carry his own instrument of death.
But even MORE so!
What “weighed” on His shoulders were our sins. Isaiah prophesied:
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement that brings us peace was upon him, and by his stripes, we were healed. “
| Isaiah 53:5 |
He was the sacrifice. Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Only God who became a man could reconcile men to God.
That’s why we say sacrifice was for love because He had no sin, we did. If sin begets death, it was us who were to die, not Him.
So all your rot, all your evil thoughts, and actions, all your rebellion against God. This was all on Christ’s shoulders.
And He overcame not only sin but also death!
When you think your life is too hard, that nothing is working, look at this picture and remember all that Jesus went through for the love of you. The punishment that brought us peace was upon HIM. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES!
Source: Christian Freedom
Consider the way His punishment was portrayed in the movie “The Passion of Christ”. I was likely worse than what we saw but He did it and suffered through it to pay for all of humanity’s sins. The price that He paid for your salvation and mine is more than we can imagine. He knew what was in store for Him and that was why He was praying so hard in the garden before His arrest. I pray that all of you who read this will seek Him as your Savior soon.
One day many years ago, Jesus came into my life and it changed me forever. It didn’t change me immediately but it did make a change in my life that lasts until today and will be with me into eternity. God determined from the very beginning that mankind would need a Savior. He told Adam and Eve that the Seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the serpent and the Seed was Jesus Christ. God gave His only begotten Son for all of mankind’s sins. He paid the price for them but not everyone will accept Him as their Savior. God knows exactly who will and who will not, so it isn’t a surprise to Him at all.
Mankind has made up so many “gods” over the thousands of years that we’ve been here. We’ve tried to make our “gods” in our image and make them just as petty and ill-tempered as we are. Aren’t you glad that God isn’t like that? Our civilization would’ve started over so many times because things would’ve always been messed up in some sort of fashion. God loves us and He has a LOT of patience with us regardless of our shortcomings. I’ve often wondered why He does this but I think the best reason is that He is God!
Jesus came to give us a way to attain eternal life in heaven. It is only through our belief in Him as our Savior that we have a chance for eternity. Otherwise, eternity will be in hell and that is not a place that anyone should want to go. It was because of God’s love for us that Jesus gave His life for our sins and all we have to do is believe in Him for our salvation. I know that sounds too easy but God made it so that a child could understand how to become a Christian.
I pray that all who read this will seek Jesus as your Savior soon.
Where will you spend eternity? Some people think that once they die they won’t know anything from that point on. They believe that they will just “go to sleep forever” and not know anything about anything. That is an awful idea, that your life means absolutely nothing. God did not create us to live that way. We have a spirit inside us that will live forever. We are flesh because that is how God designed us. Your spiritual man or woman will live forever because God made us that way. We do not go to sleep forever, your spirit will live on in a body that God gives us when we enter eternity. If you have given your heart to Jesus and accepted Him as your Savior, your eternity will be with Him in Heaven in your eternal body.
But…if you haven’t given your heart to Jesus your eternal body and spirit will spend that eternity outside in the darkness away from God. You will be in hell with Satan and his demons because you refused to accept Jesus and the grace of God for your forgiveness of all of your sins. God offers atonement through the blood of Jesus that was shed for you. Jesus is the Creator and He is the Author of Life itself. Everything that is living, even those things that we haven’t discovered yet, was created by God.
God loves you but doesn’t like the sins that we all walk in every day. He made a way for you to have eternal life. A life that is rich and productive with Him in Heaven. You will live for eternity in hell but it will be a painful and dismal life because you will pay the price for not accepting salvation through Jesus Christ. Eternity was our destination before sin came into the world. Life with God is far different from an eternity without Him. I pray that you will seek Him out as your Savior because He loves you. He came to die for you because He loved you and me long before we were born.
Not one person can keep even the Ten Commandments. With Jesus as your Savior, you can try to keep them but even with Him in your heart you and I can’t keep all of them. A thought or a word will come through during the day or night that will break at least one of the commandments. When you break one you have broken all of them. But God has provided a way, through your belief in Jesus as your Savior, to be saved from an eternity in hell. Don’t wait another day to give your heart to Him because tomorrow is not guaranteed to any of us.
There is only one way to have an eternity with God and that is through accepting Jesus as your Savior. Won’t you make sure of your eternal home today?
The Living Message of Christ 