Crucifixion, a method of torture and execution, was used many centuries before the time of Jesus by several nations
of the ancient world, including the Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians. Adopted by the Romans as their most severe form
of capital punishment, it was reserved for criminals and slaves. No Roman citizen could be crucified.
Crucifixion involved attaching the victim with nails through the wrists or with leather thongs to
a crossbeam attached to a vertical stake. At times the feet were also nailed to the vertical stake. As the victim hung dangling
by the arms, blood could not circulate to his vital organs. He died of suffocation or exhaustion, normally after a long period
of agonizing pain.
Usually the victim was beaten before his crucifixion. Jesus' flogging must have been severe, since
He could not carry His cross afterward (Matt. 27:26; Mark 15:21). This
also may explain His relatively quick death on the cross. By the ninth hour, probably 3:00 P.M., and only six hours after
He was placed on the cross, Jesus was dead. There was no need for the soldiers to break His legs to hasten His death (Mark 15:33-37; John 19:31-33).
Jesus' body was not left to decompose in disgrace as was the case with most crucifixion victims. The
followers of Jesus were able to secure Pilate's permission to give Him a proper burial (Matt. 27:57-60).
The cross has been a major stumbling block for many people, preventing the Jewish nation from accepting
Jesus as the Messiah. According to Jewish teaching, a person who had been killed "by hanging on a tree"...or crucifixion...was
"accursed of God" (Deut. 21:23; Acts 5:30; Gal. 3:13). This form of death was so repulsive to the
Jewish people that they refused to discuss it in polite society.
For many Christians, the apostle Paul best summarized the importance of the crucifixion: "We preach
Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and
Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1Cor. 1:23, 24). Other New Testament references
to His crucifixion include Romans 6:6; 1Corinthians 2:2; and Hebrews 6:6.
My personal thoughts; how can anyone refuse to believe Jesus is the Son of God after reading how
those criminals died? What man in his right mind would suffer crucifixion unless He was who He said He was and did
it for us?
Thank you, Jesus!
