The Isaiah Prophecy That Revealed the Cost of Our Redemption
Excerpted from Easter—The Rest of the Story.
After Jesus was scourged and endured intense mockery from Roman soldiers, He then carried the upper portion — the crossbeam — of His cross all the way to a hill that was called Golgotha, a place located just outside the city of Jerusalem.
Today when people think of a cross, they visualize the typical kind of crosses that adorn churches, jewelry, or even the walls of people’s homes. During the First Century, Romans did not use crosses shaped like the traditional crosses that most people see and know today. But the shape of the cross is not what’s important — the good news that Christ died on it for you and me is what’s important. The fact is, the crosses we’re used to seeing displayed are an image that was created by painters during the Middle Ages and was carried over into modern times.
In reality, Roman crosses were shaped like a “T.” They were made of a tall, upright post that had a notched groove at the top, into which a crossbeam was placed after a victim had been tied or nailed to it. The crossbeam usually weighed about 100 pounds and was carried on the back of the criminal to the place of execution.
Roman law dictated that once a criminal was convicted and ordered to be crucified, he was to carry his own cross to the place of execution if his crucifixion was to occur somewhere other than the place of the trial. The purpose of this practice was to remind bystanders of Roman military power and the people’s need to comply with Roman authority lest they suffer a similar fate.
Jesus Was Crucified
When Jesus arrived at Golgotha to be crucified, the Bible says, “They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall...” (Matthew 27:34). According to Jewish law, if a man was about to be executed, he could request a narcotic, mingled together with wine, which would help alleviate the pain of his execution. The word “gall” in this verse refers to this special painkiller.
There was a group of kind women in Jerusalem who made it their good deed to help anesthetize the pain of people who were dying horrific deaths. These women wanted to eliminate as much pain and misery as possible for the scores of people being crucified by the Romans. Therefore, they produced the homemade painkiller that Matthew tells us about in this verse.
Jesus was offered this anesthetic twice — once before His crucifixion and once while He was dying on the Cross, which we read about in Matthew 27:34 and 48. In both instances, Jesus turned down the offer and refused to drink it, for He knew He was to fully consume the cup the Father had given Him to drink.
Easter—The Rest of the Story
Rick Renner
What Do We Know About Roman Crucifixion?
Matthew 27:35 begins, “And they crucified him.”
The word “crucified” is a Greek word that depicts an upright, pointed stake that was used for the punishment of criminals. This word was used to describe those who were hung up, impaled, or beheaded and then publicly displayed. It was always used in connection with public execution. The point of hanging a criminal publicly was to bring further humiliation and additional punishment to the accused.
Crucifixion was indisputably one of the cruelest and most barbaric forms of punishment in the ancient world. Flavius Josephus described crucifixion as the most wretched of deaths. It was viewed with such horror that Seneca wrote in one of his letters to Lucilius that suicide was preferable to crucifixion.
Different parts of the world had different kinds of crucifixion. For example, in the East the victim was beheaded and then hung on public display. Among the Jews, the victim was first stoned to death and then hung on a tree.
Deuteronomy 21:22 and 23 commanded, “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God).”
But at the time Jesus was crucified, the grueling act of crucifixion was entirely in the hands of the Roman authorities. This punishment was reserved for the most serious offenders, usually for those who had committed some kind of treason or who had participated in or sponsored state terrorism.
Because Israel hated the occupying Roman troops, insurrections frequently arose among the populace. As a deterrent to stop people from participating in revolts, crucifixion was regularly practiced in Jerusalem. By publicly crucifying those who attempted to overthrow the government, the Romans sent a strong signal of fear to those who might be tempted to follow in the others’ steps.
The Grueling Process of Crucifixion
Once the convicted criminal had reached the place where the crucifixion was to occur, he was laid on the crossbeam with his arms outstretched. Then a soldier would drive a five-inch (12.7-centimeter) iron nail through each of his wrists into the crossbeam. After being nailed to the crossbeam, the victim was hoisted up by rope, and the crossbeam was dropped into a notch on top of the upright post.
When the crossbeam dropped into the groove, the victim suffered excruciating pain as his hands and wrists were wrenched by the sudden jerking motion. Then the weight of the victim’s body caused his arms to be pulled out of their arm sockets. Josephus writes that the Roman soldiers “out of rage and hatred amused themselves by nailing their prisoners in different postures.6 Crucifixion was truly a vicious ordeal.
Once the victim’s wrists were secured in place on the crossbeam, the feet came next. As a rule, a long nail would then be driven between the outer ankles and into the sides of the vertical beam, lodged firmly enough between the bones to prevent the flesh from tearing away as the victim arched upward, gasping for breath.
In order for the victim to breathe, he had to push himself up by his feet, which were nailed to the vertical beam. However, because the pressure on his ankles became unbearable, it wasn’t possible for him to remain long in this position, so eventually he would collapse back into the hanging position.
As the victim pushed up and collapsed back down again and again over a long period of time, his shoulders eventually dislocated and popped out of joint. Soon the out-of-joint shoulders were followed by the elbows and wrists. These various dislocations caused the arms to be extended up to nine inches longer than usual, resulting in terrible cramps in the victim’s arm muscles and making it impossible for him to push himself upward any longer to breathe. When he was finally too exhausted and could no longer push himself upward on the nail lodged in his feet, the process of asphyxiation began.
Jesus experienced all of this torture. When He dropped down with the full weight of His body on the nails that were driven through His wrists, it sent horrific, excruciating pain up His arms to register in His brain. Added to this torture was the agony caused by the constant grating of Jesus’ recently scourged back against the vertical post every time He pushed up to breathe and then collapsed back to a hanging position.
Due to extreme loss of blood and hyperventilation, the victim of a crucifixion would begin to experience severe dehydration. We can see this process in Jesus’ own crucifixion when He cried out, “...I thirst” (John 19:28).
After several hours of this torment, the victim’s heart would begin to fail. Next his lungs would collapse, and excess fluids would begin filling the lining of his heart and lungs, adding to the slow process of asphyxiation.
Why Was a Spear Thrust Into Jesus’ Side?
We are told in John 19:34 that when the Roman soldier came to determine whether Jesus was alive or dead, the soldier thrust a spear into Jesus’ side. One expert points out that if Jesus had been alive when the soldier did this, the soldier would have heard a loud sucking sound caused by air being inhaled past the freshly made wound in the chest.
But the Bible tells us that water and blood mixed together came pouring forth from the wound the spear had made — evidence that Jesus’ heart and lungs had shut down and were filled with fluid. This was enough to assure the soldier that Jesus was already dead.
It was customary for Roman soldiers to break the lower leg bones of a person being crucified, making it impossible for the victim to push himself upward to breathe and, thus, causing him to asphyxiate at a much quicker rate.
However, because of the blood and water that gushed from Jesus’ side, He was already considered dead. Since there was no reason for the soldiers to hasten Jesus’ death, His legs were never broken. The apostle John wrote that this was a fulfillment of Old Testament Scripture concerning the Messiah: “For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken” (John 19:36).
But this is a brief taste of Roman crucifixion.
This description of crucifixion is exactly what Jesus experienced on the Cross when He died for you and me. This is why Paul wrote, “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).
In Greek, the emphasis is on the word “even” — which dramatizes the point that Jesus lowered Himself to such an extent that He died even the death of a cross — the lowest, most humiliating, debasing, shameful, painful method of death in the ancient world.
We Need To Remember What the Cross Was Really Like!
In our world today, the cross has become a fashion item that is decorated with gems, rhinestones, gold, and silver. Beautiful crosses of jewelry adorn women’s ears and dangle at the bottom of gold chains and necklaces. Crosses top steeples on churches and adorn altars inside churches. The symbol of the cross is even tattooed on people’s flesh.
Certainly there is nothing wrong with adorning ourselves with crosses, but in beautifying the Cross to make it pleasing to look upon, people have unfortunately forgotten that the Cross wasn’t beautiful or lavishly decorated. The Cross was shocking and appalling.
Jesus’ totally naked body was flaunted in humiliation before a watching world. His flesh was ripped to shreds; His body was bruised from head to toe. He had to heave His body upward for every breath He breathed, and His nervous system sent constant signals of excruciating pain to His brain. Blood drenched Jesus’ face and streamed from His hands, His feet, and from the countless cuts and gaping wounds the scourging had left upon His body.
The reality is that the Cross of Jesus Christ was a disgusting, repulsive, nauseating, stomach-turning sight — so entirely different from the attractive crosses people wear today as jewelry or as a part of their attire.
It is good for all of us to remember what the Cross of Jesus Christ was really like, for if we don’t choose to meditate on what He went through and the price He paid for our redemption, we will never fully appreciate the price He paid for us. How tragic it would be if we lost sight of the pain and the price of redemption!
Blood drenched Jesus’ torso, pouring from His head and brow, running like rivers from the deeply torn flesh in His hands and feet. The effect of the scourging that Jesus had received in Pilate’s palace began to take its toll as His body swelled up and became horribly discolored. His eyes were matted with the blood that poured from the wounds in His brow — wounds caused by the crown of thorns that bore down into His skull as the soldiers pushed it hard upon His head. The whole scene was foul, repulsive, revolting, sickening, ugly, unsightly, and vile.
When we fail to remember what it cost Jesus to save us, we tend to treat our salvation cheaply and with disregard. That’s why Peter wrote, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18,19).
Isaiah’s Prophetic Words About the Cross
Approximately 700 years earlier, Isaiah the prophet correctly prophesied Jesus’ appearance on the Cross. In Isaiah 52:14, he wrote with a sense of horror, “As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” In Isaiah 53:2, Isaiah continued, “...He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
Jesus was put through horrendous forms of torture and was atrociously abused and battered. As a result, “...His face and His whole appearance were marred more than any man’s, and His form beyond that of the sons of men...” (Isaiah 52:14 AMPC). In the New International Version, this verse is translated to say, “...His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness. ”
In Isaiah 53:3-5, Isaiah wrote, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
According to these scriptures, when Jesus died on the Cross:
He bore our griefs.
He carried our sorrows.
He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
He was chastised for our peace.
He was scourged for our healing.
And when Jesus cried out as He was dying — “IT IS FINISHED!” — these words mean something incredible for you…
What Really Happened During Jesus’ Last Hours Before the Cross?
Many have heard the story before ― that Christ died, was buried, and rose again ― but what about the days and hours leading up to His crucifixion? What happened in those critical moments, and why did it happen?
Presenting Scripture as well as the writings of Early Church fathers, Rick documents the journey of Christ from the Garden to the Cross and beyond, revealing:
Why hundreds of soldiers ― not just a few ― met Jesus to arrest Him.
The details of "the Judas kiss" and Judas’ fatal flaw from the beginning.
The identity of the naked boy in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The physical and mental abuse Jesus endured before the Crucifixion.
Who Pontius Pilate was and why he tried to save Jesus.
What Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished!”
In this must-have Easter classic, you will find more than 30 full-page original illustrations, questions to answer and discuss at the end of each chapter, and endnote citations documenting the historical facts of Jesus’ last days and crucifixion. This keepsake volume is sure to be a family favorite for years to come!
