The Message of the Cross…

April 2, 2010

The Message of the Cross…

Excerpts are taken from “Layhands.com”….(with permission… “This material is not copyrighted. Please feel free to use it in any way which will glorify the Lord Jesus Christ”)  (“All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (R). NIV (R). Copyright (C) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. (Emphasis added.”)

“In the first century, before a criminal was crucified he was often tied to a post and flogged (see Matthew 27:26) with a “flagrum,” which was a handle with leather thongs that had jagged shards of bone or iron woven into them. As this flagrum was whipped and dragged across the victim’s shoulder, back, and legs it would rip open the flesh, leaving the skin hanging in bloody shreds. By Jewish law, Jewish authorities could only administer 40 lashes to a criminal, but the Romans had no such limitation. The beating would often go on until the centurion in charge decided that the victim was near death. In Jesus’ case, they also made a “crown” out of sharp, spiny thorns and crushed it onto His head (John 19:2), and He was hit, slapped, stripped, mocked, spit on, humiliated, and beaten repeatedly on the head with a staff (Matthew 26:67-68, 27:28-31). A criminal also had to carry the crossbar of his own cross to the crucifixion site (see John 19:16-17), and historians say that this type of crossbar usually weighed over 100 pounds and was strapped to the prisoner’s shoulders so that he couldn’t put it down.”

“At the crucifixion site, the criminal’s hands were nailed to the crossbar just below the wrist (not in the palms of his hands) with large metal spikes (similar to modern railroad spikes), and both of his feet were often nailed to the upright beam with a single spike through both heels. Skeletal remains have been found in a Jewish tomb which include a pair of heel bones with this type of large metal spike through both heels. As the victim hung on the cross, his arms and legs would become cramped from exhaustion. He would be unable to push himself up enough to breathe properly, and his brain and heart would be unable to get enough blood and oxygen. Death was usually from suffocation or from a ruptured heart, and if the Romans wanted to hasten the criminal’s death they would simply break both of his legs with a club so that he could not lift himself to fill his lungs (see John 19:31-32). The Romans were cruelly and brutally efficient in their executions, so much so that the ancient Jewish historian Josephus (37-97 A.D.) over and over referred to crucifixion as a “horror” and “so horrible a death” and a “terrible warning” to others. The two thieves who were crucified with Jesus had their legs broken to hasten their deaths (John 19:31-32), but Jesus was already dead. To confirm this, the Roman centurion thrust a spear into His heart, spilling His “blood and water” (John 19:33-34). If Jesus were still alive at that point then there would have been spurts of bright red blood with every heartbeat until his heart stopped. Medical experts have written that when death is due to a rupture of the heart, the clotted blood separates from the watery pericardial serum, so the fact that John witnessed the “blood and water” pouring out from the spear wound in His heart is exceptionally strong evidence that Jesus died from a ruptured heart rather than from suffocation.”

“At Jesus’ burial, 75 pounds of spices mixed with a gummy substance made from myrrh and aloes were used in between the folds of the linen cloths which were wrapped around His body (John 19:39-40). According to Jewish custom, the body was washed and straightened, then wrapped tightly from the armpits to the ankles in strips of linen about a foot wide. The gummy aromatic spices were placed between the wrappings or folds of the linen partly as a preservative and partly as a cement to glue the linen cloths into a solid covering which adhered so closely to the body that it would not easily be removed. The aloes were a fragrant wood which was pounded to a dry dust, and the myrrh was an aromatic gum which was mixed in with the dry aloes. The powder immediately around the myrrh would become sticky and would cement the linen cloths to each other and to the body, but the bulk of the aloe powder would most likely remain dry. The face was covered with a cloth napkin or handkerchief which was sometimes wrapped fully around the head.”

“At Jesus’ burial, a one- to two-ton circular stone was wedged in a groove or trench uphill from the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (in which Jesus was laid), and when the wedge was removed the large heavy stone rolled into position to block the entrance to the tomb (Matthew 27:57-60). A guard unit made up of highly disciplined Roman soldiers was stationed at the tomb because the Jewish Pharisees were afraid that Jesus’ disciples would try to steal the body and then claim that Jesus had risen from the dead (Matthew 27:62-66). There is a debate over whether this guard unit was from the Roman guard or the Jewish Temple guard, but in either case this unit was composed of fighting men with strong military discipline who would have been beaten and even killed (often by being stripped and burned alive with a fire started from their own clothes) for leaning on something or sitting down or falling asleep on duty or for deserting their posts. Finally, an official seal was placed on the stone so that nobody could tamper with the grave without breaking the seal and incurring the wrath of the Roman authorities (Matthew 27:66. See Daniel 6:17 for a similar sealing.).”

“The Sunday after Jesus’ burial, three women visited the tomb and found that the seal had been broken, the heavy stone had been rolled away from the tomb, and Jesus’ body was gone (Luke 24:1-3). Two angels told them that Jesus was resurrected, just as He had promised (Luke 24:4-8).”

Sources:

• The Resurrection Factor by Josh McDowell
• Who Moved The Stone? by Frank Morison
• Knowing the Truth About the Resurrection by John Ankerberg and John Weldon
• Evidence That Demands A Verdict – Vol. I by Josh McDowell (chapter 10)
• He Walked Among Us by Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson (chapter 14)
• More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell (chapters 5, 6, 7, 8 )
• Who Is This Jesus? by Michael Green (chapter 8 )
• Josephus: The Essential Writings by Paul L. Maier

 

“…that the apostle Paul said in 55 or 56 A.D. that there were hundreds of actual eyewitnesses of the risen Christ who were still alive and could confirm the accounts of the Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:6). The apostle Paul and the other disciples had to be accurate in what they reported because these living eyewitnesses would have been the first to dispute anything untrue that Paul or the disciples may have said.”

“… first-century historians and other writers of that time period have provided us with further information about the Resurrection, whether directly or indirectly. Here are some examples: “

• Flavius Josephus (Jewish historian), The Antiquities of the Jews (93 A.D.), book 18, chapter 3, paragraph 3.
• Pliny the Younger (Plinius Secundus), Epistles (112 A.D.), volume 10, p.96, in a letter written to emperor Trajan concerning the Christians in Pliny’s province (he was the governor of Bithynia in Asia Minor at the time).
• Emperor Trajan’s reply to Pliny’s letter, recorded in Pliny’s Epistles, volume 10, p. 97
• Cornelius Tacitus (senator under the reign of Vespasian and governor of Asia from 112-113 A.D.), Annals (116 A.D.), volume 15, p.44.
• Eusebius recorded in The History of the Church, volume 4, p.9, a letter from emperor Hadrian (who reigned from 117-138 A.D.) to Minucius Fundanus (governor of Asia) giving advice on handling charges against Christians.
• Suetonius (Roman historian), Life of Claudius (120 A.D.), volume 25, p.4.
• Suetonius, Life of Nero, p.16.
• Lucian of Samosata (Greek satirist), The Death of Peregrine (170 A.D.), p.11-13.
• Lucian of Samosata, Alexander the False Prophet, sections 25 and 29.

 

“These writings are significant because none of these people were Christians. They did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah and they did not believe in the Resurrection, they were simply recording the facts. Many of these references give historical proof that Christians in the first and second centuries were willing to suffer persecution, torture, and execution because of their certainty that Jesus rose from the dead. For more on these ancient non-Christian sources, see:”

• He Walked Among Us by Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson (chapter 2)
• Ancient Evidence for the Life of Jesus: Historical Records of His Death and Resurrection by Gary Habermas.
• Who Is This Jesus? by Michael Green (chapter 8 )
• Josephus: The Essential Writings by Paul L. Maier

 

“…the first witnesses of the empty tomb and the first eyewitnesses of the risen Jesus were women (Mark 16:1, 9). This would have been highly embarrassing to first-century Jews because the testimony of women was considered so insignificant that it was practically worthless in a court of law. If the Resurrection story had been invented by early Christians then they would not have used women as the first eyewitnesses if they wanted the story to have any credibility! Even to this day, devout Jewish men thank God daily that they were not born as women.”

“But what if the disciples invented the Resurrection story in order to prove that they were not foolish for following Jesus in His “rebellion”? In that case, it would be natural for them to immediately start proclaiming “Jesus is alive!” throughout the countryside in order to prove that they were right all along. However, the Bible tells us that there was a seven-week period between the time the tomb was discovered empty and the time that the disciples began boldly preaching the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was executed at the time of the Passover Feast (John 13:1), but the disciples did not begin preaching about the Resurrection until they were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), 50 days after Passover. During this seven-week period the disciples displayed an embarrassing reluctance to believe that Jesus was alive, and in fact Jesus rebuked them several times for being so slow to believe that He had risen from the dead! (Matthew 28:17, Mark 16:11-14, Luke 24:11, 25-26, 36-41, John 20:9, 13-15, 27).”

“These embarrassing facts were included in the Bible because the authors were accurately reporting the events as they actually happened.”

“When the apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (what we call the book of 1 Corinthians), he pointed out that hundreds of eyewitnesses were still alive (1 Corinthians 15:6). Anyone could have gone to any of these eyewitnesses to hear the facts from someone who actually saw the risen Jesus. If any of the New Testament writers wrote something that was untrue, there were plenty of people who knew the facts firsthand who would have been able to dispute the false stories.”

Here are the recorded appearances of Jesus after His resurrection:

• To Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9)
• To several other women (Matthew 28:1-10)
• To Simon Peter (Luke 24:34)
• To Cleopas and another person (Luke 24:13-35)
• To ten of the eleven apostles (Thomas was not there) and others who were present (Luke 24:33-40)
• To all eleven apostles (John 20:26-28)
• To some of the disciples (John 21:1-23)
• To the eleven apostles (Matthew 28:16-20)
• To His half-brother James (1 Corinthians 15:7)
• To the apostles (Luke 24:50-52)
• To more than 500 witnesses at the same time (1 Corinthians 15:6)
• At the Ascension (Acts 1:3-12)
• To the apostle Paul (Acts 9:1-9)
• To Stephen (Acts 7:55)
• To Paul (Acts 22:17-18)
• To Paul (Acts 23:11)
• To John (Revelation 1:12-18)

 

“Consider that if these eyewitnesses testified in a court of law for just 10 minutes each, the jury would hear 80 to 90 hours worth of eyewitness testimony, which is over 3 full days of non-stop eyewitness testimony, 24 hours a day!”

“John Ankerberg and John Weldon point out that “In criminal trials today, most juries are convinced on the basis of two eyewitnesses to an event and sometimes by only one. But any modern trial lawyer is simply ecstatic when he has three eyewitnesses; his chances for a conviction rise to 99 percent.” (Knowing the Truth About the Resurrection, p.20). In the case of eyewitness testimony of the resurrected Jesus we have more than three witnesses, we have over 500 eyewitnesses! “

“Christianity might easily have flourished in any other city of the known world of the time, but it could not easily flourish right there in Jerusalem where anybody could go inspect the empty tomb, interview every witness, test every incident, question every fact, and expose any fraud. Yet it was right there in Jerusalem where the apostles began boldly proclaiming the risen Jesus, and it was right there in Jerusalem where Christianity began to flourish.”

 “Jesus Saves”/ “Easter Song” from NorthlandChurch 

“True Love” HD motion from NorthlandChurch

“Agnus Dei” easter from NorthlandChurch

Then Came the Morning from alexfsu

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