Horrors of Crucifixion

Being sentenced to die on the cross was the most brutal form of punishment ever devised. Based on its agonizing effects to the victim, crucifixion was much more painful and longer lasting than hanging, electrocution, gas chamber, firing squad, and lethal injection.

Crucifixion was the Roman Empire’s method of executing the death penalty. Crucifixion lasted from 6 hours to 4 days. It was preceded by a brutal scourging. A Roman soldier would strike the victim 39 times with a whip whose leather straps were laced with slivers of sharp bones and small metal balls that severely cut into the body, exposing bones and internal organs. Many victims, severely injured and bleeding, would die during the scourging. Others were so severely beaten they could not carry the cross. The gospels report that the soldiers compelled Simon, from Cyrene, to assist Jesus in carrying the cross to the dreaded crucifixion site.

At Golgotha, the soldiers nailed Jesus’ wrists to the horizontal crossbeam. Then, they overlapped Jesus’ feet and nailed them to the main vertical beam with a long metal spike. The soldiers then hoisted the vertical beam into a dug hole, causing excruciating pain. To inhale, Jesus had to pull his body upward on the cross by painfully placing his body weight on His nailed feet. To continue breathing, Jesus repeatedly raised Himself up on the cross, the nails tearing into his flesh. These horrors and a severe scourging brought on death. Jesus expired in 3 hours. He died from asphyxiation, shock, and blood loss.

Since the Sabbath was rapidly approaching, the Jews asked Pilate to speed Jesus’ death. Since He was already dead, the soldiers did not break His legs, but speared Him in the side, piercing his heart cavity and lungs. Out came a watery fluid mixed with blood. In the 4rd century A.D., Roman Emperor Constantine banned crucifixion, possibly out of respect for Jesus.

Evidently, Jesus had viewed a previous crucifixion. Its horrors caused the Savior to sweat blood while praying in Gethsemane (Matt 22: 39-44). This is a medical phenomenon called ‘hematidrosis.’ Before going to Jerusalem, Jesus informed His disciples, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be raised to life” (Matt 20: 17-19). Thus, Jesus willfully went to the cross and gave His life for you and for me (Romans 5: 8-10).

Following 1600 years of animal sacrifices (under the Mosaic Law-Leviticus, ch 4) to atone for sin, Galatians 4:4 declared that in the “fullness of time, God sent His Son to redeem sinners.” John 3: 16 explains how Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross superseded animal sacrifices: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

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