Why Did Jesus Have to Die So Brutally

Introduction

Every week i think the question i am answering is harder then the last one

And i felt that way this week more then the others

Today we are answering why did Jesus have to die so brutally

It was brutal and the Roman Empire had mastered the torture of if

That cross we see on jewelry and on steeples and tattoos would never had been worn in rome

The cross was horrifying

When you entered rome women and children and criminals would be on crosses as a reminder of Romes power

Crucifixion was supposed to be seen by as many people as possible

Total public humiliation to let people know don’t go against rome

Broken naked bodies hung for days to tell everyone go against rome and you will be broken

No place saw more of it then Judea where Jesus lived

revolutionaries always rose up to kick rome out and make israel great again

And time after time the jewish people walked past the rebels hanging on crosses

So why did the cross have to happen to Jesus

Couldn’t he have lived a perfect life and just died of old age in peace

Why did it happen the way it did

We are going to look at 4 things to answer it and leave us in awe today

Autopsy of the Cross, It’s All About Eden, Right To The Heart of the Beast, and Was It Worth It

Autopsy of the Cross

On February 25th 2004 the country was shook by Mel Gibson’s movie The passion

It was the first time millions had a glimpse of the cross becoming real

We see it on necklaces and on pictures but Gibson made it brutal

Millions wept in movie theatres

We became aware the cross was brutal

But even the passion made it look niceer then it was

There was no clothes on Jesus in real life like in the movie

His final 24 hours were the result of roman perfection of torture

Medically it was real and horrific

In the garden before his arrest he was face to face with what was about to be poured out on Him

He was going to have the wrath of god against sin and sepreation from the father destroy him

He suffered Hematohidrosis (Luke 22:44) stress so severe the capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands break down and cause one’s sweat to contain blood.

He suffered Bodily mutilation and blood loss (John 19:1) with flogging of whips with bone in them ripping out chunks of tissue to the point bones were exposed

On the set of the passion just one whip missed the board and actually nicked the actor…just a nick and the actor playing jesus almost blacked out …jesus received 39 tissue ripping lashes

He entered shock from blood loss and couldn’t carry his cross in Matthew 27:32

The shock from blood loss caused him to cry for a drink in John 19:28 to try and cope with the blood loss

He suffered severe nerve damage as railroad spikes 7-9 inches long drove into his wrists and ankles in John 20:25

In this position, the body’s weight pushes down on the nails, and the ankles support the weight of the body

His shoulders and elbows would immediately dislocate as the cross was lifted and then violently plunged into the dug hole to stabalize it

This was what was prophesied by David in Psalm 22:14

Psalm 22:14 CSB

I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed; my heart is like wax, melting within me.

He then slowly suffocated

the weight of his body pulls down on the diaphragm, and the air moves into his lungs and stays there

Cahleen Shried gives the diagnosis of the brutality: “Carbon dioxide builds up in the blood, resulting in a high level of carbonic acid in the blood. The body responds instinctively, triggering the desire to breathe. At the same time, the heart beats faster to circulate available oxygen. The decreased oxygen (due to the difficulty in exhaling) causes damage to the tissues and the capillaries begin leaking watery fluid from the blood into the tissues. This results in a build-up of fluid around the heart (pericardial effusion) and lungs (pleural effusion). The collapsing lungs, failing heart, dehydration, and the inability to get sufficient oxygen to the tissues essentially suffocate the victim.”

THe end was a heart attack without the ability to put a hand on the pain in the chest

The decreased oxygen also damages the heart itself (myocardial infarction) which leads to cardiac arrest and the heart to actually burst

A spear was used to make sure John 19:33-34 as it was jabbed into the heart

The cardiac arrest caused a heart condition where water and blood came out of Jesus

That is the reality of the brutality

It is important to know this was real and not make believe

We have to come face to face with the brutality so at the end of this we are in awe and learn what we did last week from Proverbs 1:7- the awe of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom

This what he did for you and what it took to save you

But why this way?

Its All About Eden

It was His will to crush him bc it has always been his will to crush was sin has done

why the gospel writers wrote what they did. what was the crucifixion doing to tell that stories apex- new creation john the baptist announcing the locust and honey

Right to the Heart of the Beast

There is a war to end all wars scene in the final epic of Lord of the Rings “The Return of the King”

The rightful King of the world is at war with darkness and launches the unthinkable suicide mission

They finally take the war to the evil soromans front door

There are no more options

To kill the evil that has ravaged middle earth the impossible mission is taken to the belly of the beast

fullfillment of all that is broken in every way

philipians 2:8

Was it Worth It

the cross is foolishness

But what else has taken back what sin has stolen from your life?

glories and for you

Sin is tenacious plantinga quote

“The lower he stoops to save us, the higher we ought to lift him in our adoring reverence.” — Charles Spurgeon