To fully understand the depth of the sacrifice and the full meaning of Jesus�?last words, we must realize the extent of trauma He endured.
Following the Last Supper in the upper room, Jesus and the disciples traveled to the Mount of Olives, in particular, the nearby Garden of Gethsemane.
The physical passion of Jesus began there in the Garden.
We are told in Luke 22, verse 44:

⁴⁴And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

It is interesting to note that the evenings were probably chilly that time of year, so Jesus must have been exerting a fair amount of energy in prayer to sweat at all.
A rare phenomenon called hematidrosis can occur under severe mental distress. Jesus was contemplating His immediate future and knew what He would have to endure.
In hematidrosis, small capillaries in the sweat glands can break causing blood to mix with sweat. The process would leave the skin fragile and tender, and could cause shock.
After Jesus was arrested, He was taken in front of Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin. Here a soldier struck Jesus in the face for not answering a question.
Then the palace guards blindfolded Him and proceeded to spit on Him and strike Him, mockingly asking Him to prophesy who was hitting Him.
This was the beginning of the major trauma.
In the morning, a bruised and beaten Jesus was taken to the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia to be seen by Pontius Pilate.
Pilate quickly sends Jesus to Herod, but Herod returns Him. No physical torture or damage was inflicted to Jesus while He was with Herod.
The charges against Jesus were then changed from blasphemer to insurrectionist so Pilate could find a reason to execute Him.
After freeing Barabbus, at the request of the mob, Pilate condemns Jesus to scourging and Crufixion.
Jesus was stripped of His clothing, and His hands were securely tied to a post above His head.
The legionnaire then stepped forward with a flagrum or flagellum in his hand.
The flagrum was a short whip with several heavy leather thongs, each with two small lead beads and possibly a piece of bone tied to the end.
As the whip is brought down, the beads bruise and weaken the skin and then begin to cut into it forming long cuts across the back.
This would have been excruciating for anyone, but especially for one that had just suffered from hematidrosis.
As the scourging continued, the cuts ran deeper through the skin and subcutaneous tissue and into the muscles of the back.
Blood that was oozing would then begin to pour out as the arteries within the muscles were severed.
The process would leave ribbons of unrecognizable flesh on the back, and the scourging would continue until the victim was deemed near death.
Many actually died from such scourging from blood loss and shock.
Often the amount of blood loss would determine how long the prisoner would survive on the cross.
The Roman soldiers, seeing the amusement in a Jewish commoner claiming to be a king, then draped a robe over Jesus and placed a wooden staff in His hand.
The soldiers then tied a crown out of flexible branches covered with long thorns and placed it on Jesus�?head, pressing it into the scalp.
After mocking Him further, the Romans then took the stick from Him and struck Him on the head, pressing the thorns deeper into His scalp.
After they tired of there sadistic sport, they tore the robe from His back, re-opening the wounds caused by the scourging. This would be similar to ripping a bandage from a wound much to soon.
After this they redressed Him in His own clothing.
The hematidrosis, coupled with the beatings, the scourging and the soldiers games, left Jesus in a physical condition that could best be described as serious to critical by today’s standards.
Next, the heavy patibulum, or crossbar of the cross placed on Jesus�?shoulders and tied to His arms.
Jesus then carried this crossbar, weighing between 75 and 125 pounds, along the Via Dolorosa, or The Way of Suffering. It was approximately 1/3 a mile to the crucifixion site at Calvary.
The rough wood of the beam would have rubbed unmercifully upon the wounds on Jesus�?shoulders, adding to His already weakened state.
After a third fall to the ground, with nothing to stop Him but his face, the Roman centurian picked a large man from Cyrene named Simon to help carry the cross.
Crucifixion was a method of execution developed for causing the most amount of pain to its victims. It was not even in existence when the psalms were written making the prophecies even more amazing.
At the site of crucifixion, Jesus was stripped of His clothes again, re-opening the clotting wounds on His back. He was allowed to keep a small loin cloth by local custom.
Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, to kill some of the pain, but He refused.
After being thrown to the ground upon the Patibulum, the legionnaire would stretch out an arm and locate the depression at the front of the wrist.
He would then drive a heavy, square wrought iron spike through the wrist deep into the wood.
This nail would exert pressure upon the median nerve that would cause shooting pains to radiate up the arm causing considerable discomfort.
The process would be repeated on the second arm, but the arms would not be pulled too tightly so that some movement would be allowed.
The Patibulum would then be lifted into place upon the upright stipes, and the titilus that read “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews�?was nailed above His head.
The left foot was then pushed backwards against the right and the toes were pointed down.
A nail was then driven through the arch of each foot and into the stipes, with the knees partially flexed. Crucifixion was complete.
At this point insects would burrow into the open wounds, and birds of prey might dig at these sites, as the crowd would watch and taunt the victims.
Death would occur usually because of suffocation. The way the arms were stretched out with the weight of the body pulling down, the intercostal muscles that allow a person to exhale by compressing the chest cavity would be immobilized. Therefore, unless the person lifted themselves up with the nail through their feet, they would not be able to exhale.
While lifting up removed the pressure from the arms, it increased the pressure on the nail in the feet and caused Jesus�?back to scrape upon the rough wood of the stipes.
As the victim stayed on the cross, He would tire and be unable to lift himself to breathe. If he was not dying fast enough, the Romans present would break his legs so that he could not lift himself up. Death came fairly quickly after that.

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Message 2 of 6 in Discussion

From: †SËÎßÕ²ØØ³�?/A>

Sent: 1/27/2006 2:22 AM

Word #1:

Luke 23
³⁴Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."^[1] And they divided up his clothes by casting lots

His first concern was still others after all He had gone through.
Unlike us, His first concern is forgiveness, not justice.
His concern was always for saving us from ourselves, and this day would be no different.
Christ’s concern was with the sinners, not the sin (He used They and them)
Just as He says in Romans 5:8 “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us�?SPAN> He atoned for us before we repented�?/SPAN>
I have always wondered if Jesus was not only talking about the men that were in front of Him, or about the whole of humanity, because we indeed, do not know what we are doing many times when we act out in sin.
The sin of man encounters the wrath of God here so that now we can all die to sin and be raised to New Life in Christ.
This verse also answers a prophecy in Psalm 22, written hundreds of years prior, which reads:

¹⁸ They divide my garments among them
and cast lots for my clothing.

Jesus left clues as to His identity even in death, as we will see throughout Psalm 22, and other places�?/SPAN>

Word #2

Luke 23

³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
⁴²Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.^[1] "
⁴³Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

Here we find Jesus where He usually was, in the midst of sinners.
I always thought this was a litmus test for us though. We can get to heaven by either living a perfect, sinless life like Jesus or we can call upon Him as our savior knowing that we can never live a sinless life. Even this thief realized that he was helpless without Jesus.
The irony here is that during this whole ordeal, there is only one person that actually verbally stands up for Jesus. Not one of His disciples did, but this common thief identifies Jesus as the Christ, and then asks to be remembered.
The thief goes from guilt to repentance to salvation, and represents the true picture of Christianity.
I notice also that this thief did not ask for escape, only to be remembered, he takes full responsibility for himself.
God promises in His Word that He will never leave us or forsake us, and I believe this is proof of that statement.
This is also a good example for us that whether or not we are suffering we can always take time to “win one more for the kingdom�?/SPAN>

Word #3

John 19
²⁶When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," ²⁷and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

I think this speaks on two levels.
First, Jesus did not forget the commitments of His Jewish manhood. His mother became His responsibility when Joseph died.
This is a great example of living by the 10 commandments in that He truly honored His parents.
Jesus does not waste any time in rebuking John for allowing Him to be taken, and not defending Him, but He does recognize the pain that John and Mary are experiencing at that moment.
That is the second level to which this statement refers. This speaks to the family of believers.
We all become brothers and sisters in Christ.
We are the family of the crucified, the community of the redeemed and the fellowship of the forgiven.
This means that no one should ever have to face a trial or carry a load alone ever again.
This sets a high bar for us to aim at. Too often we are caught up in our own daily stuff to take a look around and see that someone else is suffering, and that we could do a lot to ease that pain.
Jesus at the height of His pain recognized a need and filled it.
Consider others first and yourself last.

Word #4

⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi,^[1] lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"^[2]

I have read that the phrase “all over the land�?could have also been translated “all over the earth�? and that is important, because Jesus was born under a brilliant light and would then die under a supernatural darkness.
Christ begins to bear the entire weight of the sins of all mankind at this point.
Christ was 100% God, but was also 100% man, and as he bore the sins, God the father had to separate from Him, because God cannot be in the presence of Sin.
Jesus was, in effect, abominable in the eyes of God, and yet was still His only begotten Son.
You parents can begin to understand how painful this must have been for God.
God forsook His Son to death on the Cross, and this death was the horrible cost of our salvation.
Men tend to flee death, Jesus faced it head on, because He knew that without a death there could be no resurrection, and without a resurrection there would be no salvation.
This was the loneliest point of Jesus�?life on earth. The disciples had fled, because they figured that if God would forsake Jesus, what chance would they have, and God had forsaken him so that the work could be finished.
It is easy for me to forget when I read this that Christ’s life was not taken, but He voluntarily gave it for us and for our salvation.
This also answers prophecy again from Psalm 22:1-5:

¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, and am not silent.

³ Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the praise of Israel. ^[1]
⁴ In you our fathers put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
⁵ They cried to you and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

Right here, Jesus gives us a starting place in the old testament to begin looking for who He really is. In the obscure psalm written hundreds of years prior to His birth, the crucifixion is foretold.
Jesus was focusing on the future of mankind here. He knew that he had to be separated from God in order for us to be able to come back to the Father through Him.
Through His separation we get restoration�?/SPAN>

Word #5

For 3 hours, most of which in unnatural darkness, Christ hung on the cross with the weight of the world’s sins upon Him and separated for the first time from His Father in Heaven, and He says:

John 19

²⁸Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."

This also answers a prophecy in Psalm 22, verse 15, which reads:

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me ^[1] in the dust of death.

This also serves to identify Jesus as 100% man.
This statement comes hours after His ordeal began, and yet represents the first time He says something concerning His own discomfort.
This statement bids us to listen to the needs around us, it contains the message that we should not just concern ourselves with spiritual needs, but also physical needs.
At this point Christ’s fate was sealed, and He waits until His work is basically completed prior to asking for something for Himself. This is the epitome of unselfishness.

Message 3 of 6 in Discussion

From: †SËÎßÕ²ØØ³�?/A>

Sent: 1/27/2006 2:25 AM

Word #6

With one of His last breaths, and His Earthly ministry behind Him, Jesus then says the following:

John 19
³⁰When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This represents a turning point of humanity. This finished satan’s stronghold on humanity.
This could just as easily been translated as “Paid in Full�?or “Victory�?/SPAN>
This represents Good over Evil, Life over Death, the Ultimate Victory was secured.
This statement also points to who was in control the whole time.
Jesus gave His life for us, and it was ultimately His decision to say when that work was finished.
We can all find comfort in these words because in them we are assured as to who is really in control, because if Jesus was in control of His own death, isn’t it great to think that He is also in control of our lives as well?

Word #7

Finally Jesus makes His last statement:

Luke 23
⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, ⁴⁵for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

This represents a restoration of the relationship between Jesus and God the Father
This also contains the message that Jesus is truly in control. He had completed nearly all that He needed to do, His suffering was at an end, and He knew that greater things were to come.
As He said in Revelation 21, verse 5, �?I>Behold, I make all things new�?/SPAN>
Notice also that the curtain of the temple is torn here. This represents that all barriers between us and God are removed by the atoning work of Jesus.
This ushers in a new relationship we can now have with the Father.
Jesus says this with a loud voice, intimating that He had strength left, and yet He gives His life up at this point possibly to preserve the prophecy in Psalm 22, verse 17:

¹⁷ I can count all my bones;
people stare and gloat over me.

If He had survived much longer they would have broken His leg bones, and that would nullify the statement that He can count all His bones...
Jesus became our Passover Lamb, and this last statement was a plea for us to Trust in God, and to give Him our lives just as Jesus gave His.

After Jesus�?Death

Sometime after Jesus gave up His spirit, the Romans soldiers broke the legs of the 2 thieves. When they got to Jesus they realized that He was already dead.
A soldier then stuck a spear between Jesus ribs and punctured His heart and blood and water flowed out from the wound.
With the trauma that Jesus face through the flogging and the actual crucifixion, fluid would have begun to build up in the sac that encased His heart.
This fluid would have put additional strain on the heart, and would result in cardiac arrest eventually, and it is possible that this was the thing that ultimately killed Jesus.
As the soldier stabbed the heart, the pericardial sac would have ruptured and water would flow out, with the puncture to the heart, blood would have also come out�?/SPAN>
I do not think that it was irony that Jesus would eventually die of cardiac arrest.
I think it is fitting that a broken heart is truly what killed him. A heart that broke for us and for our salvation�?/SPAN>

Message 4 of 6 in Discussion

From:

_MrWonder_

Sent: 1/27/2006 11:54 PM

An excellent study I will print out to keep. And probably make a copy for my pastor.

Message 5 of 6 in Discussion

From: †SËÎßÕ²ØØ³�?/A>

Sent: 1/28/2006 12:30 AM

Thanks MrW-

I delivered this in a class a couple years ago, but revisited it yesterday and tweaked it a bit. There is some Greg Laurie and Bob Coy in there - I don't remember how much, but it went over fairly well with the class...

Message 6 of 6 in Discussion

From:

Rosemary1947

Sent: 1/28/2006 2:36 AM

Thank you, Chip. This is a wonderful study. It was very hard for me to read the lead post, but I made it through, and then the other posts were very informative. Again, thanks so much !! As Mr. Wonder said, it's an excellent study !!!

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