Subject: THE CRUCIFIXION
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Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:31:52 -0600

THE CRUCIFIXION

-Introduction

-Last Sunday morning, we began a series of
lesson on God’s pattern for New Testament worship.

-To begin that series, we focused on the Lord’s
Supper – one of the components of our worship.

-We
looked at the institution of the Lord’s Supper by Jesus, the emblems to be used,
when

and how often we are to partake, the purpose and who it is that is to partake of
it.

-In regards to the purpose of the Lord’s Supper,
I said I hoped to further address that aspect of the

subject in an  additional
lesson.  So, that is what we’ll do at this time.

-Lord’s Supper – An Item
of Great Significance!

-When it comes to the Lord’s Supper (as with the
other parts of our worship as well) we need to

be careful that it does not become “just
routine.”

-When
we do things repetitively they sometimes loose their significance.  We must
not let

that happen with the Lord’s Supper (or with the other parts of
worship).

-1 Cor 11:23-26 – “in remembrance” of Jesus – a
matter of utmost significance

-In Remembrance of
Him

-The night Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper,
He was betrayed by Judas and the events

surrounding the
crucifixion began.

-Sang a hymn and
went to the mount of Olives (Matt 26:30), prayerful agony in the Garden

of Gethsemane
(Luke 22:41-44), the mob came and took Jesus from the Mount of Olives to

Annas (John
18:21-13) and then Caiaphas (John 18:24) where He stood before the

Sanhedrin.  In this illegal gathering Jewish leaders falsely accused Jesus
and ineffectively

used false
witnesses against Him (Mark 14:55-64).  At this point, we have a record of
some

of the
physical and verbal abuse of Jesus which continued throughout the night and into
the

next day
(Matt 26:67-68).  Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin again “when the morning
was

come” (Matt
27:1).  He was then led to Pilate (Matt 27:2) who then sent Jesus to Herod

Antipas (Luke
23:6-10).  Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate (Luke 23:11).  Pilate
addressed the

angry mob and
proclaimed the innocence of Jesus (Luke 23:14).  However, Pilate gave in to

the demands
of the angry mob that cried out, “Crucify Him, crucify Him” (Luke 23:21).

-Matt 27:25-31 - Jesus was taken to “Golgotha,
that is to say, a place of a skull” (Matt 27:33),

and nailed to a
cross and lifted up to die a despised and shameful death in view of the
people.

-The Crucifixion

-It is interesting that
the scriptures do not reveal very many of the details involved with the

crucifixion.  We’re told that the people continued to verbally scorn and
mock Jesus as He

hung there
suffering.  We’re told of a few things that were said and done during the
crucifixion

but we are not
given very many details at all.

-I think this is
another strong evidence of the inspiration of the scriptures.  Mankind
wouldn’t

record such
a horrible event with the “matter-of-factness” that we find in the
scriptures.

Mankind
would be inclined to include the many details involved either in support or in

opposition to Jesus.

-What are some of the
details?

-The Details of the Crucifixion

-Most of our ideas
about the scene of the crucifixion have been formed from artwork.  That

artwork excludes
some of the atrocities and misrepresents other details.

-For a outstanding
lesson on the crucifixion, listen to Wayne Jackson’s lesson at

http://www.christiancourier.com/audio/inRemembrance.htm.

-Crucifixion was the
most horrible manner of death known to mankind.  It was utterly

despised by the
Jews (Deut 21:22-23, Gal 3:13).

-It had been used by a
variety of different nations:

-Alexander the
Great, upon defeating the city of Tyre, had 2,000 of its people crucified.

-A Jewish ruler
(between the Greek & Roman rule), Alexander Jannaeus had 800 Pharisees

crucified.

-It seems that the
process had been “perfected” by the Romans.

-It began with a
scourging:  whip with three leather straps with pieces of bone or
metal

-The person was
stripped of their clothing and placed on a large slanted pole so that their

skin would
be stretched tight.  They would then be whipped from the their neck to
their feet.

-The skin &
muscles would be ripped apart and at times the spinal column would be
exposed.

-Many went into
shock and died at this stage.

-The person would bear
the cross or a portion of it to the site of execution where they would be

stripped of
their clothes and tied or nailed to the cross.  Of course, Jesus was nailed
to the cross.

-The nails in His
hands would have been nailed through His wrists.  In the Greek language,

the word for “hand” includes the wrist
area.  The severed nerves resulted in excrutiating pain.

-The word “excruciating” is derived from “crucifixion”.

-In 1968, archeologists
discovered the remains of some Jews who had been crucified upon the

destruction of
Jerusalem in AD 70.

-One of them had a
spike driven through his heel.  It seems that his two feet had been

separated, one to each side of the cross,
and nailed separately through the heel.  The spike

that was
used was made of iron – 7 inches long.  It was similar to a railroad
spike.

-When the person was
raised up on the cross, the weight of the body would immediately
cause

the shoulders to
pop out of joint.

-The victim’s feet
were a short distance off the ground– from a few inches up to approx 3
feet.

-The
bodies of most victims were allowed to rot on the cross.  Therefore, dogs
and other

animals
would stay around the crucifixion sites and eat the bodies.  At times, they
would

start eating
on the victims before they died.

-A number of doctors
have studied the process of crucifixion and have determined two
primary

causes of
death:

-Hypovolemic shock
– low blood volume

-As the body loses blood and other fluids, the kidneys shut down causing
insatiable thirst.

-Under continued stress, the heartbeat became erradic.

-Exhaustion
asphyxiation – suffocation

-The person could not breath in the position they hung in.  To breath, the
victim had to

pull up with their arms and push up with their feet.

-Mark 15:25 – third hour;  Matt 27:46 – ninth hour = Six hours of
suffering.

-Ps 22

-Summary and Invitation

-Crucifixion was the
most horrible and shameful method of death known to man.

-Heb
12:2

-“Out of the ugliness
and agony of crucifixion, God accomplished the greatest good of all –

the
redemption of sinners” – (from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary,  ©
1986, Thomas Nelson

Publishers)  -1 Pet 1:18-23

-These are the types of
things we should reflect on while partaking of the Lord’s Supper –

in remembrance
of Jesus and what He suffered on our behalf and what He made available to
us.

-Jesus died on the
cross so that we could be saved.

-To be saved, we must
not only remember His sacrifice, but properly respond to it.  Have
you?

-Believe (John
8:24), Confess (Matt 10:32), Repent (Luke 13:3), Be Baptized (Mark
16:16)

-We are then to
walk in newness of life (Rom 6:4).  We aren’t perfect so we continually
need

the
forgiveness of God through Jesus – 1 John 1:7-9.

Date:  December
11, 2005

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