The Death of Jesus

A few weeks ago, I got an email forward from a friend.  I'm not a scientist nor am I a historian, so I cannot vouch for every single word in this email, however, I CAN say with certainty that God knew before the world was created that we would need a savior.  He knew that we would sin.  He knew that because of His sinless nature, He would not be able to look on us in sin.  He knew He would love us so much that He would want to be with us and look upon us.  He knew that we would need a holy sacrifice.  He knew His Son, Jesus would come to earth to take our place on the cross so that we could have eternal life.

As you read this, imagine Jesus making his triumphal entry knowing what was to come.  Think about how every sin has been attoned for through this death.  Thank God for the ability to have eternal life just by trusting in Jesus.

So, what's the big deal?  I love my Savior and God.  I know that He is real and that He loves us because of the relationship I have with Him.  I know that He shed His blood in my place so I can spend eternity with Him.  If you don't already trust in God and have a personal relationship with Him, I urge you to simply call out to Him and ask Him into your life.  What do you have to lose?  

THE  (SCIENTIFIC) DEATH OF JESUS

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.  At the time, crucifixion was the "worst" death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus. Unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrist.  Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.  The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe.  

Both of His feet were nailed together.  Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.  Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breathe.  Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage. Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.  Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of 

suffering?  

A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds.From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side.  But do we realize His wounds were actually made in his body.  A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even large nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.   

But before the nails and the spear Jesus was whipped and beaten.  The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body.  The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.  The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.  Most men 

would not have survived this torture. He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. 

The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His body; a crown of  thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you can have free access to God.  So that your sins could be "washed" away. All of them, with no exception! 

Don't ignore this situation. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR YOU!