"If" (Graphic) - Matt 27:44,47,49; Mark 15:29-32; Luke 23:35,37

Crucifixion is one of those things where you think about it and can’t help but wonder, “who came up with this?” In order to understand the significance of what happens while Jesus is on the cross, it is important to have some background information on the actual process of crucifixion. It’s about to get graphic, so be warned. From an article entitled “Medical Aspects of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ” Dr. David Terasaka explains, “Nails, about 7 inches long and with a diameter of 1 cm (roughly 3/8 of an inch) were driven in the wrists. The points would go into the vicinity of the median nerve, causing shocks of pain to radiate through the arms… Studies have shown that nails were probably driven through the small bones of the wrist, since nails in the palms of the hand would not support the weight of a body… The feet were then nailed to the (cross). To allow for this, the knees had to be bent and rotated laterally, being left in a very uncomfortable position.”

The author also notes that there was a small “seat” on the cross that the victim could use to rest, but his arms were so far above his head, he couldn’t breathe, so he could “stand up” using his feet nailed to the cross for support. While this position allowed him to breathe a little bit easier, the pain and muscle fatigue would soon become unbearable and he’d be forced to sit down on the seat to rest. This cycle continued until eventually the victim suffocated and died. This process could take hours or days with the longest amount of time a person took to die on the cross, I believe, was 9 days. But the process of death could be sped up by breaking the legs of the person on the cross, which would prevent them from being able to stand up to breathe better, and they would quickly suffocate and die after that.
At this point, you have to stop and wonder, “why not save yourself the trouble and just stab them in the neck or something?” You have to be really committed to maximum suffering to go through all the effort of beating a man’s legs repeatedly and then standing there waiting as he slowly gasped for air, and then still stab him in the chest with a spear to make sure that he was dead. I mean, at that point it’s not just about making someone die, it’s about making someone wish for death as their only release from suffering.
 
The IM further sets the scene by quoting Bible scholar Frederic W. Farrar as teaching, “The feet were but a little raised above the earth. The victim was in full reach of every hand that might choose to strike, in close proximity to every gesture of insult or hatred. He might hang for hours to be abused, outraged, even tortured by the ever-moving multitude… For indeed a death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of horrible and ghastly- dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds- all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness.
The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrenes; the arteries- especially of the head and stomach- became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst; and all these physical complications caused an internal excitement and anxiety, which made the prospect of death itself- of death, the awful unknown enemy, at whose approach man usually shudders most- bear the aspects of a delicious and exquisite release. Such was the death to which Christ was doomed.”
That was incredibly long and graphic, but I feel like there is so much more that goes into this method of execution than just nails in the hands and feet. Don’t get me wrong, that would be absolutely excoriating, but would it kill someone? Also pointed out in one of the articles that I read was that at this point, Jesus would have already suffered from a severe amount of blood loss, through both sweating blood and also the scourging and beatings. His decreased blood volume combined with the chemical reactions happening in his body to try to move muscles with very little oxygen in them, fluid accumulating in the heart and lungs, and all the other awful things that happen to a body when it’s crucified, would have led to an extreme dehydration and thirst.
It also appears that we were misinformed about the actual placement of the cross in relation to it’s height. If the feet were only “a little raised above the earth,” that meant that the crosses wouldn’t have been towering up in the air like most of the paintings depict. I can’t imagine hating someone so much that I would physical hurt them further while they are hanging on the cross dying, but apparently that level of disgust is in some people out there because many who walked by Jesus laughed at him. I can’t imagine a world where those being slowly executed are held with anything other than sorrow.
We have to remember that Satan is in charge here, he’s being allowed to try and break Jesus in any way that he can. The physical torment hasn’t made him falter yet, but Satan isn’t giving up, because the chief priests and friends “became the ringleaders of the inhuman mob as they gloatingly exulted and cried aloud: ‘He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.” I don’t consider myself a prude, or someone who is easily offended, but really? He’s already suffering enough, do you really have to literally kick him while he’s down? I’m trying to imagine the worst person ever to have lived on the earth and ask myself, “If I saw him being crucified, would that not satisfy me? Would I personally feel the need to increase his suffering?” It’s crazy, honestly.
The IM quotes President Howard W. Hunter as referencing Satan’s tempting words back when Jesus’ ministry first began three years ago, saying, “There is, or course, running through all these temptations, Satan’s insidious suggestion that Jesus was not the Son of God, the doubt implied in the tempter’s repeated use of the word if… These, of course, were foreshadows of that final desperate temptation which would come three years later: ‘If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.’ But Jesus patiently withstood that ploy also, knowing in due time every knee would bow and every tongue confess… It is important to remember that Jesus was capable of sinning, that he could have succumbed, that the plan of life and salvation could have been foiled, but that he remained true… He was perfect and sinless, not because he had to be, but rather because he clearly and determinedly wanted to be.”
The words Satan is saying to Jesus are the same as they were three years ago, “if thou be the Son of God…” but the circumstances are much different. In the beginning of his ministry, Jesus was spiritually superior to everyone else on the planet, he knew who he was and what his mission in this life was. But now he has three years of experience being that person that he was called to be. He has a history of performing miracles, commanding elements, teaching doctrines, and just last night, he begin the process of the atonement, suffering for the sins and pains of every single creature ever to have lived. So in that sense, Jesus is infinitely stronger spiritually than he was three years ago.
But on the other hand, Jesus also has spent the last 24 hours suffering for all the pains and sins of every creature in the universe, he’s completely spiritually exhausted, as we learned a few weeks ago that enduring in the Garden of Gethsemane took every ounce of spiritual strength that Jesus had. He was physically to the point of death, both because of the spiritual expenditure and also because of the beatings and whippings and the actual pain from the crucifixion. If there was at any point when Jesus was going to say “This isn’t worth it, I’m out,” it was going to be now. At a word he could have ended everything and gone back to live with his Father all alone, just the two of them, and lived happily ever after, that would have been his right. And not only was he physically at the end of his rope, but he also was experiencing something that was completely new to him, His Father left him. He might be spiritually stronger than he was three years ago, but he’s alone and suffering beyond comprehension, and therefore so much more vulnerable to doubt or self-pity. This really is Satan’s finest hour and if he ever had a shot at screwing up the atonement, now’s the time.