April 16, 2014 | Crucifixion

“Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.” (Mark 15:15 NASB)
 

44 details about death by crucifixion

1. Crucifixion is likely the most painful death ever invented and is where we get our term “excruciating.” The Roman Senator Cicero called it “a most cruel and disgusting punishment.”
2. It was reserved primarily for the most vicious of male criminals.
3. Jesus was stripped naked and His clothing divided by the Roman guards. This was in fulfillment of Psalm 22:18, “They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”
4. The crucifixion of Jesus guaranteed a horrific, slow, painful death.
5. Having been nailed the cross, Jesus now had an impossible anatomical position to maintain.
6. Jesus’ knees were flexed at about 45 degrees, and He was forced to bear His weight with the muscles of His thigh, which is not a position which possible to maintain for more than a few minutes without severe cramps in the muscles of the thigh and calf.
7. As the strength of the muscles of Jesus’ lower limbs tired, the weight of His body had to be transferred to His wrists, His arms, and His shoulders.
8. Within a few minutes of being placed on the cross, Jesus’ shoulders were almost certainly dislocated.
9. Minutes later Jesus’ elbows and wrists became dislocated.
10. Thus, prophecy was fulfilled from Psalm 22:14, “I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint.”
11. After Jesus’ wrists, elbows, and shoulders were dislocated, the weight of His body on his upper limbs caused traction forces on the pectoralis major muscles of His chest wall.
12. These traction forces caused His rib cage to be pulled upwards and outwards, in a most unnatural state. His chest wall was permanently in a position of maximal respiratory inspiration.
13. To expire air from His lungs, Jesus had to push down on the nails in His feet to raise His body, allowing His rib cage to move downwards and inwards.
14. Unlike Hollywood movies about the crucifixion, the victim was almost certainly extremely active. The crucified victim was physiologically forced to move up and down the cross, a distance of about 12 inches, in order to breathe.
15. The process of respiration caused excruciating pain, mixed with the absolute terror of asphyxiation.
16. As the hours of the crucifixion wore on, Jesus was less and less able to bear His weight on His legs, as His thigh and calf muscles became increasingly exhausted.
17. Within minutes of crucifixion Jesus became severely dyspneic (short of breath).

18. The Romans could prolong the pain for days by erecting a platform on the cross that allowed the condemned more ease for respiration movement. Conversely, when the Romans wanted to expedite death they would simply break the legs of the victim, causing the victim to suffocate in a matter of minutes. Neither occurred in Jesus’ case.
19. Jesus’ movements up and down the cross to breathe caused excruciating pain in His wrist, His feet, and His dislocated elbows and shoulders. In particular, the pain from the shattered median nerves in His wrists exploded with every movement.
20. Jesus was surely covered in blood and sweat. The blood was a result of the scourging that nearly killed Him, and the sweat as a result of His violent involuntary attempts to effort to expire air from His lungs.
21. Throughout all this He was completely naked, and the religious leaders, the crowds, and one of the thieves on beside Him were jeering, swearing and laughing at Him. In addition, Jesus’ own mother was watching.
22. Physiologically, Jesus’ body was undergoing a series of catastrophic and terminal events.
23. Because Jesus could not maintain adequate ventilation of His lungs, He was now in a state of hypoventilation (inadequate ventilation). His blood oxygen level began to fall, and He developed hypoxia (low blood oxygen).
24. In addition, because of His restricted respiratory movements, His blood carbon dioxide (CO2) level began to rise, a condition known as hypercapnia.
25. This rising CO2 level stimulated His heart to beat faster in order to increase the delivery of oxygen and the removal of CO2.
26. The respiratory center in Jesus’ brain sent urgent messages to his lungs to breathe faster, and Jesus began to pant.
27. Jesus’ physiological reflexes demanded that He took deeper breaths, and He involuntarily moved up and down the cross much faster, despite the excruciating pain.
28. However, due to the nailing and His increasing exhaustion, He was unable to provide more oxygen to His oxygen-starved body.
29. The twin forces of hypoxia (too little oxygen) and hypercapnia (too much CO2) caused His heart to beat faster and faster, and Jesus developed tachycardia. His pulse rate was probably about 220 beats/ minute, the maximum normally sustainable.
30. Jesus was already very dehydrated, having apparently had nothing to drink for about 20 hours.
31. His blood pressure surely fell alarmingly. It was probably about 80/50.
32. He was in first degree shock, with hypovolaemia (low blood volume), tachycardia (excessively fast heart rate), tachypnoea (excessively fast respiratory rate), and hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating).
33. By about noon Jesus’ heart probably began to fail.
34. Jesus’ lungs probably began to fill up with pulmonary edema. This only served to exacerbate His breathing, which was already severely compromised.
35. Jesus was in heart failure and respiratory failure.
36. Jesus said, “I thirst” because His body was crying out for fluids. He was in desperate need of an intravenous infusion of blood and plasma to save His life
37. Jesus could not breathe properly and was slowly suffocating to death.
38. At this stage Jesus probably developed hemopericardium – plasma and blood gathered in the space around His heart, called the pericardium.
39. This fluid around His heart caused cardiac tamponade, where the fluid around His heart prevented Jesus’ heart from beating properly.
40. Because of the increasing physiological demands on Jesus’ heart, and the advanced state of hemopericardium, Jesus probably eventually sustained cardiac rupture. His heart literally burst. This was probably the cause of His death.
41. At three o’clock in the afternoon Jesus said, “Tetelastai,” meaning, “It is finished.”
42. At that moment, He gave up His Spirit, and He died.
43. When the soldiers came to Jesus to break His legs, He was already dead. Not a bone of His body was broken, in fulfillment of Psalm 34:20 “He keeps all his bones,Not one of them is broken.”

44. He willingly endured the most excruciating and terrifying torture ever invented [and rose from the dead – a topic for Sunday!] to pay the price for our sin.

 

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him. (Isaiah 53:5-6 NASB)

Some of those bullet points are speculative, but I found the synopsis nonetheless compelling. David Simmonds, the young man who sent the list to me also wrote this powerful response:

Wayne, that description really hit me hard when it comes to ‘how’ He (Jesus) gave himself for us. Can you imagine? Ask any person to think of someone they despise, and then ask them to go through the pain of crucifixion for that person. Now, I know Jesus didn’t ‘hate’ any of us, but humans certainly don’t make it easy for someone to GIVE his life like that for any of us. Jesus was either a crazy lunatic of a man who thought he was the son of God…or He WAS the Son of God. Wouldn’t a crazy person give up or at least lie to get out of that type of pain and punishment? If he suffered like that for me then I should be motivated to push my body, mind and heart each day for Him.
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April 10, 2014 | Moved With Compassion

“We love, because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 NASB)
 

Here’s a wonderful note from my pulpit team partner, Randall Satchell:

Wayne, reading the 1 John text for this Sunday and preparing for a lesson on leadership, I came across Mark 1:41. Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.”NASB

While preaching in different synagogues and casting out demons throughout Galilee, Jesus heals a leper. Mark records an interesting phrase that is the impetus for Jesus’s healing of the leper, He was “moved with compassion.” In the Greek text, “moved with compassion” is one word that means “to be inwardly disturbed.” Jesus was so inwardly grieved for this man that he could not help but stop and care for him. His concern for others made Him aware of the opportunity. The depth of His compassion led Him to take action.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of my everyday life and ministry, what opportunities lay before me? And what is my response? Do I take the time to be moved by compassion and take action? Or am I being ruled by the tyranny of the urgent and overlooking an opportunity to be a blessing?

We must not be so consumed with life and ministry that we fail to miss opportunities to be moved by compassion.- Randall
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April 3, 2014 | Find It In the Word

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1 NASB)
 

We received some great mail this week, as usual! The inbox especially contained some wonderful insights regarding a study of 1 John 4 at Frisco Bible.

Find it in the Word

Pastor Wayne, do you remember the old song by Farrell & Farrell, “Find it in the word?” Verses 1-3 made me think of that old lyric:

There are those who will tell you that they know for sure

There’s more than what is in the Book.

But since Jesus is the Author of our faith,

They better take a second look.

You’ve got to find it in the Word, my brother

Find it in the Word.

Makes no difference what you’ve heard

You’ve got to find it in the Word.

This is serious

Wayne, Deuteronomy 13: 12-18 is a stunning judgment on people led astray by false prophets to worship other gods. God’s anger is truly fierce. I don’t judge my own idolatry by that standard. But after reading this I know I should.

You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4 NASB)

There is always hope

Dad [this note came from my son], I was thinking through verse 4 and the ever-present battles of life. This came to mind:

The grim dawn sky is welcoming in the dismal tide

At these times we feel the dark

But we also know there is always hope

To rebuild

There is always hope

To overcome

To become a man of truth and love

I read a passage from scripture that speaks to me

I read Romans 12:12

Be joyful in hope

Patient in affliction

Faithful in prayer

There is always hope

There will always be affliction

And your prayers will always be answered

In one way or another

Have joy

Be patient

Have faith

Hope is always there
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March 28, 2014 | Mongolian? Really?

When the Lord brought back the captive ones of Zion,

We were like those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with laughter

And our tongue with joyful shouting;

Then they said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

The Lord has done great things for us;

We are glad. (Psalm 126:1-3 NASB)
 

Our community amazes me with its gladness. For example, as I teach, I occasionally speak in silly accents just to keep myself engaged in the text. Our delightful fellowship has taken the idea and run with it. Here are a few of the accent requests I received just this past week:

  • Marvin Martian
  • Dr. Evil
  • Austin Powers
  • Oprah Winfrey
  • The Tasmanian Devil
  • Clint Eastwood
  • Vincent Price
  • Morgan Freeman
  • Marty Feldman
  • Gomer Pyle
  • Homer Simpson
  • Bill Cosby
  • Chewbacca
  • Paul McCartney
  • Mick Jagger
  • Popeye
  • Jay Leno
  • Dr. Phil
  • Yosemite Sam
  • Mongolian

Reading theses as they arrived, I had a few thoughts:

  1. This kind of laughing together is marvelous. Wholesome laughter is the right response from those who have been rescued by God. [See the excellent example in Psalm 126.]
  2. I’ve actually done Morgan Freeman and Chewbacca during sermons.
  3.  I also used the Tasmanian Devil accent once. It must have been awful because only one person laughed. I believe hundreds feared I was having a stroke.
  4. I tried Yosemite Sam, but it hurt my throat. How did Mel Blanc do that one?
  5.  It is a precious gift to grow up with people who take God seriously while they laugh at themselves.
  6. What ones would you add to the list?
  7. Mongolian? Really? What would that even sound like? I asked a missionary friend who taught for four years in Mongolia. He just laughed.

Битабүхэндхайртай!
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March 20, 2014 | Precious

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

(Psalm 116:15 ESV)
 

Two painful communications came at the same hour. The first was from a former church member forced to move away because of work. His sweet young wife was very near death after a long war against cancer. The second was a note from an upset pastor. An African church where he taught last year was raided by a Muslim warlord who beheaded some Christians in front of their families. They were killed for refusing to recant their faith in Jesus.

What do we do in the face of such raging evil? How does a follower of the Messiah handle such vivid revelations of a broken world full of disease, internal sin, spiritual oppression, foolishness, hate, and death?

Scripture exposes many excellent angles of response to that question. We haven’t space to go into them all here, so I’ll share my personal shortcut: Psalm 116. When the wretchedness and falseness of this life press on me, I find Psalm 116 to be particularly effective at piercing the darkness.

In this song, the Psalmist rights his perspective, balancing a world of falsehood and malice with the goodness and undeserved grace of God. He remembers what is true beyond what he sees. In anguish and tears, he turns to God for comfort. The writer is reminded that God offers salvation that stretches immeasurably far beyond the short pains of this life. He sees that good eternally may not be congruent with what we would call “good” here and now. He rediscovers the power of thanksgiving, even in grief. He recognizes God’s hand in death and His precious care for those who trust Him – saints that he takes to Himself.

To summarize with the Psalmist’s own clause, he “calls upon the Lord.” When I do the same, it truly makes all the difference.
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March 6, 2014 | Abide

“But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie-just as it has taught you, abide in him.” (1 John 2:27 ESV)
 

“Abide” is the Greek meno [μένω] – a term one meets again and again in 1 John. In fact, it is the key idea in the first two chapters. Putting all of 1 John 1 & 2 together, we see that abiding involves believing the truth, obeying the truth, and loving fellow Christians.

Warren Wiersbe has a nice summary of this word John loves, abide:

One must recognize the importance of abiding in Christ…[via] obedience – love – truth.

  • If we say we abide in Christ, we should walk as He walked (verse 6).
  • If we love our brother, we abide in the light (10).
  • If the Word abides in us, we will be spiritually strong (14).
  • If we do the will of God, we shall abide forever (17).
  • False teachers do not abide (continue) in the fellowship (19).
  • The message we have heard should abide in us (24).
  • The anointing (the Holy Spirit) abides in us, and we should abide in the Spirit (27).
  • As we abide in the Word and in the Spirit, we should also abide in Christ (28).

If you are a believer and find yourself out of fellowship with God, it is because you have disobeyed His Word, lacked love for a brother, or believed a lie. The solution is to confess your sin instantly and claim God’s forgiveness (1 John 1:9). – Warren Wiersbe, Be Real.
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