WONDERFUL ON THE CROSS.. ------+++++++++++++++++---------- Crucified! No shame is so complete. No grief is so sore. No death is so thorough. First, there was the scourging. The scourging post was two feet high. An iron ring, placed close to the top, projected from both sides. Clothing was ripped away from a prisoner so that he stood naked. Roman lictors were professionals. They confined their labours to the fine, brutal art of scourging, and they could gladly beat a victim to death. Wrists were firmly tied to the iron rings. Then the victim was stretched, face down, with his feet pointing away from the post. The Roman scourge was a flagra (flagrum), a short-handled whip consisting of several thin iron chains, [another version consisted of 9 leather cords with pieces of sharp sheep-bones inserted in the leather] that ended in small weights and hooks. These had the effect of stripping the flesh off a persons body, piece by piece. Scourging was called the little death. It preceded the big death: Crucifixion. Even the tension of awaiting the first blow is cruel. The body is rigid. The muscles knot in tormenting cramps. Colour drains from the cheeks. Lips are drawn tight against the teeth. As the whip descends, the chains fan out across the back, and each link cuts through the skin and deep into the flesh. The weights crash with bruising force into the ribs and curl tortuously around the chest. The hooks dig in, and harrow the abdomen as the whip is pulled back for the next blow . When a man is scourged there is pain beyond the memory of pain. Sweat bursts from the brow and stings the eyes. At each stroke of the flagra, a victims body twitches like a beheaded chicken. The second stroke patterns the back and half of the chest with a V-shaped network of small cuts. Only Wonderful has been able to hold back the high-pitched wail of unbearable agony. The very juice of life is torn away with every lash. There is only the blinding, burning pain as cruel whips whistle again and again through the air and cut into the back and shoulders. Blood (with fragments of flesh) spatters the floor. The flagra can flay a man alive. Under Hebrew law, the strokes were limited to 39. Roman punishment was not so limited. There was only one rule for the lictor who scourged a man about to be crucified: he must not die. A spark of life must be sustained for the agony on the cross. Men have bitten their tongues in two under such beatings. Only blessed unconsciousness could bring relief. The limp body of a victim was cut away from the post. His wounds were washed but not otherwise medicated. The next step was the parade to the execution ground. Roman politicians always liked to make examples of condemned men. The long, slow parade along public streets was designed to serve as a warning to others that Rome dealt quickly and mercilessly. A centurion usually served as the executioner or carnifex servorum. While four soldiers held the prisoner, he placed the sharp five-inch iron spike in the centre of the palm of the hand. A skilful, experienced blow would send it through to the wood of the cross-beam (patibulum). Four to five more strokes would hammer the spike deep into the rough plank, and a final blow turned it up so that the hand could not slip free. A small projection resembling a rhinoceros horn, and known as the ‘sedile’, is solidly fitted halfway up the already planted vertical beam. This took much of the victim’s weight off his hands when, nailed onto the cross-beam, he was lifted up and made to ‘sit’ (by the crotch) on the sedile. Then, with the knees slightly bent and one foot over the other, another spike is driven through the feet into the vertical beam. It was a death reserved for slaves, thieves and traitors. The wounds in the hands send fire down through the arms. Fainting only relieves temporarily. It is darkness and pain; then pain and darkness. The pain in the back, arms, hands, feet and crotch is a steady burning, throbbing, horrible, endless pain. The pain builds up. It multiplies. It is cumulative. There is not one moment of respite. The cross is planted so that the greatest amount of sunlight will pierce the prisoners eyes. The sun shines directly into the eyes of the crucified. Even when the eyelids are closed (to evade the gaze of the crowd) a red glare penetrates. Below, the curious crowd wait, fascinated by the torture. The macabre scene is played out slowly. Dying should be a private thing, not a public spectacle. There is something obscene about having a mob of people standing around, waiting for you to die. Then the thirst begins. The lips are dry. The mouth is parched. The blood is hot. The skin is fevered. The greatest of all needs at this moment is a drop of cool water. Water is denied. Nearby in a jar is vinegar (sour wine) with bile mixed in it. The tongue thickens. What was once saliva is turning into a sticky, flesh-gripping glue. At the foot of the cross the death-squad drinks a thin beer in the presence of the dying man, to add to his mental torment. Swelling begins in the hands and the feet. The sedile digs deeply into the genitals. It is impossible to turn, or to change ones position. Muscles begin to twitch. The real horror is only beginning. What has happened up until now is childs play. One by one the muscles of the back gather in tight, knotty cramps. There is no escaping them, no pulling out of them, no gentle massaging hands to ease them away. They move across the shoulders and the thorax. Then down into the abdomen. After two hours on a cross, every muscle in the body is locked in solid knots and the agony is beyond endurance. Men shriek themselves into insanity. The pain and symptoms are identical to tetanus (lockjaw or the state of a muscle when undergoing continued contraction). Man, with all his genius, has never devised a more cruel or more agonizing death than that of tetanus -- the slow, steady contraction of every muscle. Death by crucifixion makes the agony last as long as possible. Each hour is an eternity. At times the cramps make the neck rigid and the head is held flush against the vertical beam. The wounds by the thorns driven into the scalp burn the more. The cramps drive the torn back to scrub the rough plank, bruising the wounds afresh. A man longs for death. It is his only desire. Dogs yelping, with the smell of blood in their nostrils. Birds of prey, scavengers of the skies, circle lower and lower, waiting. Flies are undeterred by the crowd, they gather upon every open wound.. Prayers seem to mock a man, but you either pray or curse. As the hours pass, the tiny blood vessels which feed the nerves will be squeezed flat, and with the lack of blood circulation comes a numbing paralysis. A new agony develops for the crucified with time. It is the agony of the mucous membrane. These were new pains. On the cross there is no end of suffering. It is only the manner of suffering and the degree of pain that changes. During crucifixion, the mucous membrane -- that thin, slippery tissue which lines and lubricates much of the human body -- dries to the consistency of fine sand and scours the tender tissues of the anus (the posterior opening of the alimentary canal). Layers of tissue are ripped from the eyes every time they are moved or blinked. The dried membranes tear at the tortured throat. They lie like stones in the sinuses. The tongue begins to stick onto the jaws, so the mouth must be kept open to avoid suffocation. Then the flies swarming around the eyes, nose, mouth, wounds on the face .. head, crawl into the mouth. At that time, Wonderful said, I thirst. A sponge (on a stick) is dipped into the vinegar-bile mixture and pushed into the gaping mouth. He dies wailing. Could there ever be more intense suffering outside of hell? Most condemned men died naked. [In the evening, towards night fall, soldiers were inclined to hasten death ( because men have been known to remain alive for 3 days on a cross). They began breaking bones. Standing on a ladder, a practised legionnaire would swing a mallet in a short arc and shatter the right femur (thigh-bone), or the tibia (below the knee). A second, sharp blow would shatter the left leg-bone. The crucified would then suffocate to death. Wonderful Jesus let go before this point .. after He was sure He had paid Gods full purchase price of man, He says, It is finished, then dies .. so He was in complete control even of His death. No lunacy, fault or loss of purpose (aim) is seen in Him despite the torment. HE ENDURED THE PUNISHMENT OF THOSE KNOWN TO BE GUILTY WITHOUT LOSING HIS COOL. Had JESUS been a sinner, the cross would have revealed it, for nothing can prevent the inside of the heart from being seen for a man dying on a cross .. because the first to die is the brain, so power to exercise the will (to pretend or otherwise) vanishes .. dies, and the true state of the heart (the inside) becomes bare, visible]. God said that the sure reward, wages .. salary of sin is death. But man was created to rule God’s creation (by His guidance .. inspiration), so sacrifice of animals, plants, earthen stuff cannot bridge a breach between corrupt man and a Holy (morally excellent) God. Only the Man Christ Jesus can mediate between God and the corrupted descendants of Adam. CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED. It was my sin .. rebelliousness .. wickedness that sent Him there. He took my place. Jesus Christ died the most thorough death ever devised. It was designed to allow the slow death-erosion of cell, muscle, emotion, bone, tissue, mind, spirit, blood and heart-beat. He died the most brutal death ever devised by man. Thus the victory of the Resurrection is the most complete victory ever recorded. Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph oer His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose! No further sacrifice for my sins is needed. Are you willing to be free from the guilt of your sin before God, and so be spared from His judgment? Ask God to forgive you of your past sins, take away all iniquity (sin, rebelliousness, curse), heal you and turn your heart to walk in His ways. JESUS paid for your total freedom. THIS IS A FREE OFFER FROM GOD! A clean, new origin awaits all who receive it, they become as if they never did wrong, and God starts remaking .. reshaping, remoulding them .. TO BE THE LIKENESS OF JESUS CHRIST .. so that as He is so they may be(1Cor. 1: 17-23) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BLOOD COVER. ............................................. Beloved reader, when God sent Moses into Egypt, He used Moses to gradually introduce Himself to the Egyptians. Some got the message and submitted themselves to Living Hope .. the rest did not bother. When God came, even Moses would have been consumed had he not taken cover under the blood. He had the shepherds rod (staff) hed used to manifest great signs inside the house where he took cover by applying the blood on the door posts.. Moses did not trust in or rely upon the staff .. that which God placed in his hands! He simply obeyed and took cover. None of Israel relied on Moses to help apply the blood. Every family participated in seeing the lamb suffer .. die .. roast, after painting their doors posts with its blood. Do so urgently for your households please.. We are at the beginning of what you read in Is. 26:20-- 27;1,2
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:27:35 +0000
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