At Calvary

The soldiers grabbed Jesus, stripped him of his clothing, and placed a purple robe & crimson cloak on Him. Then they scourged Him. The tool they used had a short handle with leather strips. Some of the strips had metal stones, a lead ball, rocks, or glass attached to the end. Jesus was bound to a stake while they beat Him. The Jews had a limit of 40 lashes, but they never wanted to accidentally miscount & go over, so they always stopped at 39. The Romans had no limit. We do not know for sure how many times Jesus was lashed but we do know his flesh was ripped, He was bleeding, & He was in excruciating pain. They then placed a crown of thorns on His head. This caused great pain & suffering. They put it on & took it off several times. They placed a reed in Jesus’ hand & bowed to Him pretending to worship him. They spit on Him & slapped him repeatedly. The soldiers changed His clothes again, which would have been very painful, & gave Him a cross to carry to Calvary.

He was placed on the cross between 2 thieves. The cross would have been no more than 2 or 3 feet off the ground. He would have been nailed in such a way as to suspend His body by the arms resulting in slow suffocation. He was probably tied to the cross first so that they could place the nails in His hands. The nails were 7-9 inches long & made of iron. They would have first been driven through wooden disks to avoid the heads going through his flesh. A 3rd nail was driven through both feet & hammered inside the Achilles’ tendons. A sign was placed above his head that read “This is Jesus of Nazareth – King of the Jews”. Written by Pilate, it was in 3 languages, Hebrew, Greek, & Latin. Jesus suffered on the cross for 6 hours. He uttered 7 statements, His final one being, “Father into your hands I commit my spirit”. He then took his last breath. At that moment darkness came over the land. The temple veil was torn in 2. The earth shook & the rocks were split. Tombs were opened & the bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised. Jesus’ physical suffering was over, the Lamb was sacrificed, the law was fulfilled, the sins of the world were paid for, & the plan of salvation was complete.