At a crucifixion the victim usually was nailed or tied to a wooden stake and left to die. Crucifixion was used by many nations of the ancient world including Assyria, Media and Persia. Alexander the Great of Greece crucified 2,000 inhabitants of Tyre when he captured the city. The Romans later adopted this method and used it often throughout their empire. This is the method of torture and execution used by the Romans to put Christ to death.

Crucifixion was the Romans most severe form of execution so it was reserved only for slaves and criminals. No Roman citizen could be crucified. To the Jewish people crucifixion represented the most disgusting form of death. Yet the Jewish Sanhedrin sought and obtained Roman authorization to have Jesus crucified.

If a man found guilty of a capital offense is put to death and you hang him on a tree, his body must not remain on the tree overnight; you must bury him the same day, for one who has been hanged is accursed of God and you must not defile the land that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance. - Deut. 21:22-23 -

They shouted back, 'Crucify him' 'Why?' Pilate asked them 'What harm has he done?' But they shouted all the louder. 'Crucify him!' So Pilate anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified. - Mark 15:13-15 -

There was no need for the soldiers to break His legs to hasten death. By the ninth hour probably 3 pm - in only six hours - Jesus was already dead. Jesus' body was not left to rot; the disciples were able to secure Pilate permission to give Him a proper burial. - John 19:31-42 -

The cross has been a major stumbling block in the way of the Jews preventing the majority of them from accepting Jesus as the MESSIAH. The apostle Paul summed up the importance of the crucifixion best:

It was God's wisdom that human wisdom should not know God, it was because God wanted to save those who have faith through the foolishness of the message that we preach. And so, while the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom, here are we, preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness but to those who have been called whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. - 1Cor. 1:21-25 -

Out of the ugliness and agony of crucifixion God accomplished the greatest good of all - the redemption of sinners.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -