Dying to Live

INTRODUCTION:

Easter is the most precious of all holidays. It commemorates the proof of God’s promise to us.

Easter is so significant because the resurrection is the foundation upon which our faith is built.

Without the resurrection, all would be lost, we would be hopeless.

Praise God for this day, but the events leading up to this glorious resurrection were not easy.

Jesus would have to be betrayed and then arrested, but then came the unspeakable torture.

THE CRUCIFIXION:

Crucifixion itself is a horrible death, but this crucifixion carried with it some extreme torture.

In fact, the Roman soldiers, called lectors, were experts are torture.

They knew how to beat someone to the brink of death, without killing them.

The main component of the torture was flogging. But before the flogging would take place, Jesus would be humiliated by being stripped totally naked.

“The soldier would use a whip of braided leather thongs with metal balls woven into them.

When the whip would strike the flesh, these balls would cause deep bruises or contusions, which would break open with further blows.

And the whip had pieces of sharp bone as well, which would cut the flesh severely."

“The back would be so shredded that part of the spine was sometimes exposed by the deep, deep cuts.

The whipping would have gone all the way from the shoulders down to the back, the buttocks, and the back of the legs. It was just terrible.”

‘As the flogging continued, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.’

A third-century historian by the name of Eusebius described a flogging by saying, ‘The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews, and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.’

The victim would often experience tremendous pain and go into hypovolemic shock.”

“Hypo means ‘low,’ vol refers to volume, and emic means ‘blood,’ so hypovolemic shock means the person is suffering the effects of losing a large amount of blood,”

“This does four things. First, the heart races to try to pump blood that isn’t there; second, the blood pressure drops, causing fainting or collapse;

third, the kidneys stop producing urine to maintain what volume is left; and fourth, the person becomes very thirsty as the body craves fluids to replace the lost blood volume.”

“He would have been laid down, and his wrists would have been nailed in the outstretched position to the horizontal beam.

This crossbar was called the patibulum, and at this stage it was separate from the vertical beam, which was permanently set in the ground.”

“The Romans used spikes that were five to seven inches long and tapered to a sharp point. They were driven through the wrists,”

the nail would go through the place where the median nerve runs.

This is the largest nerve going out to the hand, and it would be crushed by the nail that was being pounded in.”

Imagine the pain you feel when you accidentally hit your funny bone.

Now imagine taking a pair of pliers and squeezing and crushing that nerve,” “That effect would be similar to what Jesus experienced.”

“The pain was absolutely unbearable, In fact, it was literally beyond words to describe; they had to invent a new word: excruciating.

Literally, excruciating means ‘out of the cross.’

“At this point Jesus was hoisted as the crossbar was attached to the vertical stake, and then nails were driven through Jesus’ feet.

Again, the nerves in his feet would have been crushed, and there would have been a similar type of pain.”

his arms would have immediately been stretched, probably about six inches in length, and both shoulders would have become dislocated.

Among other things, crucifixion would cause dislocated joints.

Psalm 22:1

Psalm 22:1 NKJV

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?

Psalm 22:14

Psalm 22:14 NKJV

I am poured out like water, And all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It has melted within Me.

In order to exhale a person would have to push up with their feet.

“Once a person is hanging in the vertical position, crucifixion is essentially an agonizingly slow death by asphyxiation.

“After managing to exhale, the person would then be able to relax down and take another breath in.

Again he’d have to push himself up to exhale, scraping his bloodied back against the coarse wood of the cross.

This would go on and on until complete exhaustion would take over, and the person wouldn’t be able to push up and breathe anymore.

“As the person slows down his breathing, he goes into what is called respiratory acidosis—the carbon dioxide in the blood is dissolved as carbonic acid, causing the acidity of the blood to increase.

This eventually leads to an irregular heartbeat. In fact, with his heart beating erratically, Jesus would have known that he was at the moment of death, which is when he was able to say, ‘Lord, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ And then he died of cardiac arrest.”

Before He died, the hypovolemic shock would have caused a sustained rapid heart rate that would have contributed to heart failure, resulting in the collection of fluid in the membrane around the heart, called a pericardial effusion, as well as around the lungs, which is called a pleural effusion".

This accounts for the water and blood that poured out when Jesus' side was pierced.**

There should be no doubt that Jesus was truly dead when He was laid in the tomb.

This adds credence to the resurrection, which is central to the Gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:14-19

1 Corinthians 15:14–19 NKJV

And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.

Because of the resurrection, we have hope beyond this life, and into eternity.

His blood forgave our sins, but His resurrection gave us the promise and hope of eternal life.

Because of the resurrection, we have reason to celebrate!

Many would try to dismiss or disprove the resurrection, yet nobody really doubts that the tomb was empty.

The question is: Why was it empty?

It would have been a certain medical impossibility for Jesus to survive the crucifixion, and fake His death.

Guards were placed at the tomb (by the Roman authorities), to ensure that nobody could steal the body and fake a resurrection.

The tomb was sealed and guarded to ensure that nobody could steal the body and fake a resurrection.

Matthew 27:62-66

Matthew 27:62–66 NKJV

On the next day, which followed the Day of Preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, “Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

THE RESURRECTION WAS BODILY, NOT JUST SPIRIT:

They touched Jesus

John 20:27

John 20:27 NKJV

Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

They ate and drank with Jesus. In fact, on one occasion, Jesus cooked them breakfast. Can a spirit do that?

They ate and drank with Jesus

John 21:9

John 21:9 NKJV

Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread.

John 21:12

John 21:12 NKJV

Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord.

The reason the tomb is empty, is because Jesus was miraculously resurrected.

He is a living God, a living Savior, who ALWAYS lives to make intercession.

Hebrews 7:25

Hebrews 7:25 NKJV

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

What better reason to we have to celebrate, than that of a living savior?

He died once, never having to die again. His one death was sufficient.

He died once, never having to die again.

Romans 6:10

Romans 6:10 NKJV

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Jesus died and lives so that we can live and not die.

1 John 4:9

1 John 4:9 NKJV

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

John 11:25-26

John 11:25–26 NKJV

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

**Strobel, Lee (2009-12-15). The Case for Easter: A Journalist Investigates the Evidence for the Resurrection (p. 21). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. **