At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to death on the cross or crucifixion. That was the "worst" death in those days. Only the worst of criminals could die like Jesus. And with Jesus things were worse, because not all criminals condemned to death were flogged.
Nails... Big nails! Each was 15 to 20 cm long, with a point of 6 cm. All points were sharp. The nails were craved into the pulses, and not into the palms, as we used to hear. In the pulse, there's a tendon which extends till the shoulder, and when the nails were being hammered, that tendon broke, obliging Jesus to reinforce all the muscles of His back, so that He could breath as He was loosing all the air from his lungs. In this way, He was forced to support Himself onto the nail craved in his feet, which was bigger than those craved into His wrists, for both feet were craved together. And, as his feet could not endure that pain for long without tearing, Jesus was forced to alternate that "cycle" so that He could breath. Jesus endured that reality over 3 hours.
Yes, over 3 hours! Long time, isn't it? Few minutes before He died, Jesus was not bleeding anymore. Water was pouring out from his cuts and wounds. When we imagine Him injured, we only picture Him with scars, but it is not so; His injuries were true wounds, made in His body while he was flogged. He had no more blood to bleed (Human body is composed of nearly 5 litres of blood for an adult).
Jesus poured all 5 litres of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His limbs; a crown of thorns on his head and, beyond that, a spear through His side. All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed through after carrying his own cross for almost 2 kilometres, while the crowd spat on His face and threw stones at Him (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight).
Did I mention that he was flogged before being crucified? For that, they used a special kind of whip made of leather, with thorns and animal bones embedded in them; this was to make sure that each time a person was whipped, a part of his flesh would come out along with the whip.
Whipped, with a crown of thorns on his head, spat at, slapped, struck on the head with a rod, bleeding, in deep agony, on the cross, with nails on His wrists and feet, mocked, forsaken by God His Father, all for our sake. Jesus passed through all this, so that you can have free access to God. So that your sins could be washed away. All of them, with no exception! Don't ignore Him.
HE DIED FOR YOU!- Christie Shaji
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