The Crucifixion and Events
Surrounding It
Jesus had a seamless robe that the Roman soldiers
envied. They threw dice for it to see who would get it.
The first sentence Jesus spoke from the Cross is about
them: “Father, forgive them for they do not know what
they do.”
His next spoken words were to the repentant thief by
His side: “Today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise.”
A while later, Jesus spoke to His mother, Mary:
“Woman, behold your son.”
Then He looked into the eyes of the only disciple who
hadn’t run away when Jesus was arrested, John, and
said: “Behold, your mother.”
The next words Jesus spoke were from the beginning
of Psalm 22: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?”
Jesus suffered hours of unending pain, cycles of
twisting, cramps that had engulfed His joints,
intermittent partial asphyxiation and excruciating pain
as tissue was continually torn from His lacerated back
due to His up-and-down movements against the rough,
splinters of the wooden cross.
Jesus then experienced incredible chest pain as the
sac surrounding His heart slowly filled with serum and
began to crush His heart. This fulfilled the prophecy if
Psalm 22:14 on being poured out like water.
The loss of fluids from Jesus’ tissues had reached a
critical level. His compressed heart struggled to pump
heavy, thick, sluggish blood to the tissues, and His
tortured lungs made a frantic effort to inhale small gulps
of air. With the end rapidly approaching, Jesus gasped
His fifth cry: “I thirst.”
A sponge was soaked in cheap, sour wine and lifted to
His lips. Jesus felt death exploding through His body
and uttered His sixth statement — probably just a
whisper — “It is finished.”
His mission of dying for the sins of the world — past,
present and future — had been completed, and He
could now allow His physical body to die. With one last
surge of strength, He pressed His mutilated feet against
the nail, straightened His legs, took a deeper breath
and spoke His final cry: “Father, into Your hands I
commit My spirit.”
The common way to end a crucifixion was by breaking
the bones of the legs. This kept the victim from pushing
himself upward. The tension couldn’t be relieved from
the chest muscles and suffocation quickly occurred.
The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the
soldiers approached Jesus, they didn’t break His bones
because He was already dead.
Just to be sure He was dead, one of the soldiers
drove his spear between Jesus’ ribs, up through the
pericardium and into the heart. The blood and water
that escaped proved that Jesus was indeed dead.
Know It!
