Crucifixion, Death and resurrection- Thx Alma H!

Easter is not really about bunnies and brightly colored Easter eggs . . .  it is about betrayal and unjust judicial trials; whips and nails, suffering and humiliation; sin and payment for redemption; guilt and innocence; death and resurrection.  If you do not have a temperament for things like these and do not want to concentrate too deeply on such facts, then think about Christmas and a little baby in a manger, of shepherds and angels, of wise men and gifts, and skip the Passover week altogether  . . .  and if you do, know that you are missing the whole point of the Christmas story which was to bring a Savior into the world to die for us!

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet. Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.

The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist,
that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe.

Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using His legs just to continue to breathe.

Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage. Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours. Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering?

A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds. From common images, we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side... But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.

A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.

Most men would not have survived this torture. He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His body; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that we can have free access to God,

So that our sins could be "washed" away. All of them, with no exception!

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US!

But the story does not end there!   On the third day He conquered death and rose again!

Praise God, we have a Savior!