The Cross: Parts 1 and 2

The Cross:

Part 1:

How can any words describe the pain, suffering, agony, and humiliation that our Lord suffered at the hands of accusers? We can write about it, but to put into words his agony would be impossible. Innocent, yet found guilty by those He came to save.

The cross was an ancient instrument used for capital punishment.  The Romans used this form of torture, and execution on the enemies of the state, or those who had committed crimes of theft, murder, or rebellion. Two Greek words are used, xylon, meaning tree; and stauros, meaning stake, or cross.

Jesus was crucified because the Jew said, He had made himself King. Crucifixion was one of the crueler and barbarous forms of death know to man. The Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Egyptians, and Romans practiced this form of torture, in which death soon followed.  Those sent to the cross were deprived of all their clothes except for a small covering around their loins.

There were four different forms of the cross.

1. The crux immissa, this type in which the upright beam extends above the cross beam, traditionally the one upon which Jesus suffered and died.

2. The crux commissaits, its construction was that of the letter T.

3. The Greek cross in which the cross beams are of equal length, +.

4. The crux decussatta, was in the shape of the letter “X.”

Near the middle of the cross was a piece of wood on which the victim could sit for a short moment, this helping him to breath. If he were not able to relieve himself, the victim would have suffocated. Also it was to support the body. The victim would lift himself with his feet, relieving the weight from his wrist and hands, since the weight of the body might otherwise have torn away the hands from the nails.  The height of a cross rarely exceeded ten feet.

At the time of Christ, crucifixion was entirely in the authority of the Romans. Roman citizens were exempted, it being reserved for slaves, and foreigners. Crucifixion was a way the Romans maintained their authority, and to deter retaliation. The execution was to be witnessed by the public, this accounted for them taking place in an open, public area.

According to the Roman course of action, there had to be a legal conviction. As in Jesus case, the actual crucifixion took place outside of Jerusalem, but the sentencing had taken place inside the city. So the condemned man was to carry the  cross-beam to the spot of his execution outside the city. “To bear the cross,” has its origins here with Christ.

Christ was brought to the common hall, stripped of His cloak, this replaced by a scarlet robe, which was the clothing of a king. The soldiers than twisted a crown of thorns on his head, gave Him a reed (symbolizing a staff) in his right hand; knelt before Him, mocking him saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They then spit upon Him, took the reed from His hand, and beat Him over the head, again, and again.  They then took the scarlet robe from Him, and put on Him his own robe.

The beating with the rod fulfilled,

Isaiah 52:14, “Many were astonished at thee (Jesus;) his visage (appearance) was so marred more than any man.”

All those to be crucified were beaten with either rods, or whips. Because of this severe beating, many died before they ever went to the cross.

After His mockery, and severe punishment, Jesus was obliged to carry His cross beam to the place of punishment, outside of the city. In shame He was to be seen by every citizen.

The cross, sometimes called the unpropitious, or infamous tree, consisted of a piece of wood erected perpendicularly, and intersected by another at right angles near the top so as to resemble in a way, the letter, “T.”

There were two ways in which the condemned could be nailed to the cross. He could be nailed to the cross as it lie on the ground, then both the cross, and victim were lifted up. Or, the pole, or stake was planted in the ground, the victim was then tied to the cross-piece, hoisted up with the horizontal beam, then fastened by rope, or nails to the vertical pole.

A piece of wood placed near the top of the perpendicular post spoke of the crime Jesus was to die for.  The chief priests had ordered, “He (Jesus) said, I am King of the Jews,” but Pilate wrote,  “This is Jesus the King of the Jews.”

The chief priests were outraged, and attempted to have it changed. Pilate refused, answering them, “What I have written I have written.” Unknown to Pilate, the voice of God had spoken to his heart in this matter. Why, because Jesus was, “The King of the Jews.”

There is no mention in historical records that those who went to the cross were bound by ropes around the wrists and feet. Both the hands and feet were fastened to the cross by nails, and is asserted to by Plautus; also the writing of Tertullian against the Jews, and against Marcion.  Gregory Nazianzen asserted that one nail only was driven through both feet. Cyprian who had been a personal witness to crucifixions testifies that two nails or spikes were driven, one through each foot. He is considered to be the better authority.

Part 2:

Were there any references to the crucifixion before the event occurred?

Matthew 26:2, Jesus said, “Ye know that after two days in the feast of Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.”

Matthew 20:19, Jesus said, “And shall deliver him (Jesus) to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day He shall rise again.”

What was the Jews part in our Lord’s death?

Luke 24:20, “How the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.”

Acts 2:36, “Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God (the Father) hath made the same Jesus, whom ye (the Jews) have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Acts 4:10, “Be it know unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye (the Jews) crucified.”

Is the city where the Lord crucified identified?

Revelation 11:8, “Their dead bodied shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt (Jerusalem,) where also our Lord was crucified.”

In reflection of the cross:

Hebrews 6:6, “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they (the Jews) crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.”

Hebrews 12:2, Jesus, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.”

Paul in his letters gave no details about the events of the cross. But he does see the same dangers to the Christian church that threatened Jesus, coming from the enemies of the church. He explains this as if it were a parallel situation.

1 Thessalonians 2:15, “Who (the Jews) both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us.”

Jesus also warned His disciples before His death of future persecutions.

Matthew 23:34, Jesus said, “Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.”

The Sanhedrin instigated the arrest, the trial, and sentence of Christ.

Mark 14:53, “They led Jesus away to the high priest, and with him were assembled all the chief priests, and the elders and the scribes. Ver.55, they sought after false witnesses. Ver.64, they accused him of blasphemy, and they with one voice condemned him to death. Ver.65, they began to hit him in the face.

What was the Gentiles part in Jesus death?

During the Roman occupation, jurisdiction belonged solely to the imperial representative alone, Pontus Pilate. The Jews demands could have been over-ruled by him. Pilate’s decision for sending Christ to the cross was his alone.

Jesus death was carried out according to Roman practice. The scourging, mocking, beatings, and crucifixions were done according to Roman law, and practice.

Therefore, the cross was used this being the means, and device or the Romans, death was by suffocation.

Pilate would have done well had he listened to his wife.

Matthew 27:19, she said to Pilate, “Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” Pilate recognized the motives of the Jewish authority, but was in himself weak, seeking their support. So he gave in to their request.

We can find no evidence of a formal sentence passed on Jesus from imperial Rome. To clear his own conscience of this atrocity,

Matthew 27:24, “Pilate saw that he could prevail (accomplish) nothing, — he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see ye to it.”

What about Jesus disciples bearing their cross?

Mark 8:34, Jesus said to them, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.”

Matthew 10:38, Jesus said, “Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

Mark 14:27, Jesus said, “Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Phillip LaSpino  www.seekfirstwisdom.com