By this
the love of God was
manifested in us, that God
has sent His only begotten
Son into the world so that we
might live through Him. In
this is love, not that we loved
God, but that He loved us
and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins"
(1 Jn 4:9-10).
It was unanimously considered the most horrible form of death. Among the Romans, the degradation was also a part of the infliction. The punishment, if applied to freemen, was only used in the case of the vilest criminals.
F. W. Farrar wrote, "The one to be crucified was stripped naked
of all his clothes, and then followed the most awful moment of all. He was laid
down upon the implement of torture. His arms were stretched along the
crossbeams, and at the center of the open palms the point of a huge iron nail
was placed, which, by the blow of a mallet, was driven home into the wood. Then
through either foot separately, or possibly through both together, as they were
placed one over the other, another huge nail tore its way through the quivering
flesh. Whether the sufferer was also bound to the cross we do not know; but, to
prevent the hands and feet being torn away by the weight of the body, which
could not `rest upon nothing but four great wounds,' there was, about the center
of the cross, a wooden projection strong enough to support, at least in part, a
human body, which soon became a weight of agony…
Then the `accursed tree' with its living human burden was slowly heaved up and
the end fixed firmly in a hole in the ground. The feet were but a little raised
above the earth. The victim was in full reach of every hand that might choose to
strike.
Death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of the
horrible and ghastly —dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness,
traumatic fever, tantanus, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment,
horror of anticipation, mortification, of untended wounds all intensified up to
the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of
the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness. The
unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed
tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure,
gradually gangrened; the arteries, especially of the head and stomach, became
swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and, while each variety of misery
went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a
burning and raging thirst. Such was the death to which Christ was doomed." (Life
of Christ, pp. 497-499).
So, why would God stand by and watch His Son be abused, spit upon, tortured and
killed by calloused pagans and religious hypocrites? John says it is the supreme
example of the Father's love for sinners like us. How could Jesus take the
humiliation, excruciating pain and shameful spiritual stigmatization as our sin
bearer? He loves us everyone, as if we are the only one
(Eph 5:2).
The saying is:
love, not nails, held Jesus to the cross.
At the cross, God's hatred of sin and His amazing grace to the sinner is forever
demonstrated. In the gospel plan of salvation, God's sacrificial part allowed
him to punish sin and satisfy justice, while allowing His love to give fallen
man a second chance to live by submissive faith
(Rom 3:23-27).
No one has ever or will ever love me like that. The sacrificial love of every man by Christ, shown at the cross, is the positive drawing power of the gospel. (John 12:32)
Paul could never quite get over
such unfathomable love: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer
I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me".
(Gal 2:20)
When we suffer or are sad or discouraged, look back to the cross and receive renewed motivation to live in obedience to the Savior. He gave His all for the likes of me. It is a joy and privilege to give my all for Him.
— W. Frank Walton