There is a component to the ancient form of execution, known as crucifixion, that I think has been overlooked by many students of the Bible. This particular component is not my idea; it’s from the writings of Bible scholar Arthur Custance. I’ve referenced his website, Doorway Papers, under LINKS.
Before we get to that aspect of crucifixion, let’s explore what we know about its most well-known “victim”, Jesus Christ.
FACTS COMMONLY KNOWN ABOUT JESUS
1. Like God the Father, Jesus has always existed and is the Creator of the universe. This involves the mystery of the Trinity—that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are three separate persons of the same essence. John Chapter 1; Colossians 1:15-17.
2. The Plan of Redemption was known from the beginning, that man would fall and that Jesus would voluntarily pay the price for man’s sin. Genesis 3:15; John 17:24; I Peter 1:20.
3. Born of a virgin, he was both human and divine. Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:23.
4. He never sinned, although tempted in all points as we are. I Peter 2:22; II Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15.
5. His earthly ministry lasted for about three years (calculated from the historic gospels).
6. His preaching consisted mainly of loving one another, repentance, and the gospel. Mark 1:14-15; John 15:12. The gospel in one verse: John 3:16.
7. He performed miracles, such as healing and raising the dead. Matthew 4:24; John 11:43-44.
8. He did not hesitate to rebuke those who needed rebuking, notably hypocrites, dishonest moneychangers in the Temple, and false religious leaders. His criticism of the Sadducees and Pharisees led to their determination to kill him. Matthew 23:27-28; Luke 22:2; John 11:53; Acts 7:52.
9. He was arrested and condemned on false charges, tortured, and crucified. John 19:1-42; Matthew 27:1.
10. He rose from the dead on the third day. Matthew 28:6; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6; John 20:29.
11. He ascended to the right hand of God where he continues to function as High Priest and Intercessor for man. Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25.
12. He will return to take the church, believers in him, to be with him and to abolish evil for all time. This will occur after a series of prophesied events recorded in the Old and New Testaments. John 14:2; Hebrews 9:28. See the book of Daniel for Old Testament references.
The following points are less commonly known and are beneficial toward debating with non-believers:
• Jesus frequently predicted his death; it did not come as a surprise. Philippians 2:6-8; Mark 10:45; Matthew 16:21; Matthew 20:28; Matthew 26:26-29.
• He submitted voluntarily to his arrest; he could have stopped everything that was happening at any time. He had already avoided being killed or arrested on several occasions because it was not yet time. Matthew 26:36-46; John 10:17-18; Matthew 26:53.
• His death cancelled, redeemed, paid in full, our sin debt. John 1:29; Acts 2:38; Revelation 5:9.
All that he voluntarily accepted (torture, suffering, death) was in obedience to God’s will. This was the “cup of wrath” that God required as a penalty for man’s sin and for man’s redemption. Jesus had a sense of dread and horror about it just before it happened, but he continued to go through with the “Plan” to which he had committed himself. See the Gethsemane prayer: Mark 14:34-36. Also see Hebrews 5:7-8, which states: “And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (NLT).
THE NEED FOR A SACRIFICE
From the moment that Adam rebelled against God and sinned, mankind has faced eternal separation from God—in other words, a one-way ticket to hell. Justice must be served, and a penalty must be paid.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23.
The following points are summarized from a Blue Letter Bible article entitled: “An Identification of Christ.” AN IDENTIFICATION OF CHRIST
• Not only must someone voluntarily pay the penalty for sin, he must be QUALIFIED to pay. He cannot be guilty of the same crimes as the “sinner”.
• The substitute (person paying the penalty) must be of an infinite nature, because sinning is not only past and present, it is FUTURE.
• The price is human BLOOD for human souls (reason shown below).
• The sacrifice must be both PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL.
• The substitute must therefore be both DIVINE and HUMAN.
• Only Jesus Christ fits the “BILL”.
No matter how strange to us seem the laws and rules regarding Old Testament sacrifices, there is significance and meaning behind each one. It is important, also, to note that God is not a blood-thirsty God who takes pleasure in seeing the shedding of blood. Sacrifice is actually a provision for man to show his sorrow and repentance, his faith, and his desire to reconcile himself to God. Thankfully, such sacrifices are no longer necessary since Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice, of which the others were a foreshadowing.
“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” Psalm 51:16-17 (NIV).
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” I John 4:10 (NIV).
“(Jesus said) …just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 (NIV). Jesus often referred to himself as the Son of Man.
Sacrifices and offerings restored broken relationships between God and man, and between men and women…and brought healing. (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia).
THERE’S POWER IN THE BLOOD
Why is blood of such importance throughout the Bible?
“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22 (NIV).
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” Leviticus 17:11.
People can live without limbs and certain organs, but we can’t live without blood. It is life itself. If the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), then it should be easy to understand why blood is required to give life again. This is the meaning of atonement.
On a deeper level, there is much more to blood than just red and white cells. What gives it its animating and life-sustaining power? Who created all those amazing properties of blood, including DNA? Could it be there’s a part of God in our blood? How else do you explain life?
We’ve seen how animal sacrifices temporarily satisfied the requirement for a blood atonement before Jesus’ death on the cross. Let’s take a look at how his body and blood fulfilled the final requirement for a blood sacrifice.
The Jewish Tabernacle was a copy of a “reality” that already existed in Heaven (Hebrews 9:24). According to Mosaic law the blood of an animal sacrifice had to be presented to the High Priest of the Tabernacle and later the Temple. The High Priest could not be touched until this was accomplished. Using this symbolism and applying these rules to Jesus, his blood had to be presented to God in the heavenly tabernacle. ARTHUR CUSTANCE: DOORWAY PAPERS. Hebrews 9:11-12 and 10:19-22.
WHEN did Jesus “perform this part of his office?”
According to Biblical accounts, on the morning of the resurrection Mary Magdalene and some other women went to Jesus’ tomb in order to anoint his body, since there had been no time to do so on the day of his death. When they got there, the stone had been rolled away from the tomb and it was empty. The women hurried to tell the other disciples, who did not believe them at first, then Peter and John ran to the tomb and saw that it was empty, except for Jesus’ burial shroud and the “napkin” which had covered his head.
Peter and John returned to their place of hiding, and Mary Magdalene was left alone. She was weeping and sobbing because she didn’t know what had happened to the body of her beloved teacher. There were also angels involved in this encounter. The four gospel writers gave their resurrection accounts with differing details according to the way they individually saw and recalled these events.
Someone, whom she assumed to be the gardener, asked her why she was weeping. She replied, and he said her name, “Mary”. It was only then that she recognized his voice and realized he was Jesus. However, he did not permit her at that time to embrace or touch him. He said, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father…” (John 20:17).
It is Mr. Custance’s belief that it was at this time that Jesus made a first ascension and presented his blood to the Holy of Holies, and that there was a time gap between the time he spoke to Mary and when he permits the disciples to touch him, Matthew 28:9. Or perhaps there was no “human” time gap since Jesus’ mission took place in the eternal realm. Why did he not ascend immediately after his resurrection, and instead waited to show himself to one of his most devoted disciples?
Custance further theorizes that the body Mary saw at first was his ravaged and mutilated body covered with blood, although he probably wore some type of robe or cloak, and that the second time he appeared it was in his glorified body which still bore the nail prints but which he permitted his disciples to touch, Mark 16:12. However, it was not a spirit but a real body. Luke 24:39. His ability to appear and disappear could have been, rather than walking through doors and walls, the ability to enter and exit through a “portal” to another dimension (the heavenly realm).
WHY CRUCIFIXION?
First point: There were other forms of execution that could have been used for Jesus.
In their law, the New Testament Jews utilized four forms of capital punishment: strangling, stoning, beheading, and burning. It’s unclear whether burning was ever actually used as a punishment, or if it was a way of desecrating a body after the person had been killed by one of the other means.
The Jews apparently also believed in “hanging a body on a tree” once the person was already dead, in order to make the statement that this person was cursed by God. This may have been what the Jews wanted to do with Jesus: kill him by their own method, then “hang” his dead body in order to make him “accursed of God” and totally discredit him. Hanging on a tree did not involve hanging by the neck, but rather meant tying the arms and legs of the person to a post or tree. This was similar to some forms of crucifixion.
Because they were under Roman rule, the Jews could not issue a sentence of death without the permission of Roman officials—in this instance, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. Pilate was unwilling to execute Jesus because he found him “not guilty”. (John 19:6).
The Jews were determined for Pilate to crucify him, and after arguing with them for some time, he finally told them to go and crucify Jesus themselves. This they did not wish to do, probably for several reasons: it was not one of their methods of execution; it was exceedingly bloody and would have complicated things immensely because of their rules about blood; by law, they would be compelled to remove the body from the cross by the end of the day, and Jesus might not be dead by then. (They could, as noted, nail the body to a tree or cross once Jesus was dead, in order to show Jesus to be “accursed of God”. See Deuteronomy 21:23).
As we know, Pilate finally gave in to their demands, although not by direct order but by “washing his hands” of the matter. The Jews were then assured that Jesus would hang on the cross until he was dead, per the Roman method of execution. After Jesus’ death, it was his supporters that hastened to remove and bury his body before sunset of that day.
Second point: Crucifixion was the only form of execution allowing time enough for Jesus to become “sin” and suffer the consequential penalty of having his spirit separated from God, and for God’s wrath to fall fully upon him. He was crucified about nine a.m., and from 12 until 3 p.m. the sky grew completely dark. This is believed by most scholars to be the three hours that Jesus’ spirit was condemned. However, those three hours are in man’s time, not God’s, so in some sense that time is of an eternal nature.
Third point: It was an exceptionally bloody death, and we have seen how the shedding of blood is required for sacrificial atonement.
CONCLUSION
Jesus fulfilled all the requirements to pay our sin debt, and exactly how he did so by the way of the cross. Obviously if God didn’t accept the sacrifice he wouldn’t have raised Jesus from the dead.
In Jesus’ case, to add insult to injury, the laws the Jews broke the night of his arrest and trial(s) include: a capital case could not be tried at night, sentence could not be passed on the same day as the trial, sentence could not be passed on a Holy Day (such as Passover), there should be witnesses who would speak for the accused, no legal grounds for the charge of blasphemy were presented, the accused could not be scourged before execution. Pilate was responsible for Jesus’ scourging because of the Jews’ demand for crucifixion.
“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12.
GOOD NEWS!
The good news is—God loves you, and we don’t have to know or understand all this to become a believer in Jesus Christ! All that is necessary is a simple prayer: Jesus, I realize I am a sinner and I want to be saved. I’m sorry for my sins and I want to change. I believe that you are the Son of God and that you have paid the price for my sins. Please forgive me, come into my life, and save me.
More information: HOW TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN
LINKS
The Code of Blood. by Chuck Missler. Technical proof that “the life is in the blood”.
Definition/Description of Crucifixion. From Encyclopedia Britannica (online).
Websites: (Good websites but doesn’t mean I agree completely with all content.)
Doorway Papers by Arthur C. Custance. “Triumph Over Death”, a section as utilized in this article. Full of fascinating information that I plan to use in future articles.
Lambert Dolphin Library. Website of Christian physicist/writer/researcher Lambert Dolphin. Tons of interesting topics.
BOOKS
The Case for Christ. And other books by investigative journalist, Lee Strobel. I have not read them all but have read this one and a few others.
Mere Christianity. By C.S. Lewis. The classic volume which “explores the common ground upon which all of those of Christian faith stand together”.
Woman of Sin. My novel, which includes the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. NOTE: After doing the research for this study, I would change a couple of things in my book, namely that Mary Magdalene touched Jesus before his “first” ascension, since I’m rather in agreement with Mr. Custances’ assertions about this. Also, it’s probable that Jesus had to carry the cross-beam of his cross nude through the streets, and was crucified nude, according to Roman capital punishment tradition. The (anti-Semitic) soldiers would have wanted to humiliate him to the utmost, and also to show the people how horribly he had been beaten in order to discourage future criminals, especially seditionists, the Roman crime of which Jesus was accused.
Sequels: Man of God, Child of the King